Happy Shobogenzo!

Today is Katagiri Roshi’s birthday (82 or 83) so I begin by toasting that old boy with the above one big candle. 

It would make him very happy, I’m sure, to see Kaz Tanahashi & Co’s brand-spanking new and complete translation of Dogen’s Shobogenzo here on my table. And a lovely translation it is with a couple hundred page glossary, maps, index, updated translations and is just a wonderful contribution to dharma students. 

You might thank all those associated with the project by clicking here and buying it now (get ready for sticker shock)!

Okay, that’s my commercial message. 

If you want to hear a real Zen talk about the translation process, click here for Peter Levitt’s talk “Dogen, Poetry, and the Heart of Practice.” You can also get it over at the iTunes Store for free. 

There are several translations of Shobogenzo online (Shasta Abbey, Numata Center for the Nishijima and Cross, and the Soto Zen Text Project) but this one stands out. 

The way I work with Dogen is to use at least a couple translations so as to see what the original says from a couple vantage points. I prefer the careful scholarly perspective of the Soto Zen Text Project. You see I have fetish for footnotes and go into eyes-rolled-back ecstasy when there are supplemental footnotes to the footnotes but they’ve only got 21 of the 75 fascicle version translated so I’ll be comparing Kaz’s great work here either with that or with the Nishijima and Cross.

Take for example the passage from “The Meaning if Bodhidharma Coming from India” that has the person-up-a-tree koan and Dogen’s commentary. This passage riles some purist, anti-koan folks because it’s kinda hard to explain away how Dogen gives specific koan instructions.

I’ve quoted the following passage before on this blog here and here (sort of) but here it is again in the new translation: 

Many people have investigated and discussed this case, but few have spoken penetrating words about it. Most have been dumbfounded. However, if we think about this case by taking up not-thinking and beyond thinking, we can have the experience of sharing a cushion with Old Man Xiangyan. If you sit steadfastly together with Xiangyan on the same cushion, you must understand this case thoroughly before he opens his mouth. 

Be that as it is, remember that Dogen’s words and koan introspection are both about embodying the truth of the moment. 

So here we are, dangling by our teeth, 1,000 ft. up in the air. Someone comes along and says, “Hey, if it’s all perfect just as it is, why have all the great masters from the past given up everything to realize it?” 

If you speak, you lose your life. If you don’t speak, you avoid your responsibility and don’t give your attention to the speaker. 

What will you do?