Insightful commentary on a beloved ancient philosopher of Zen by a beloved contemporary master of Zen.
Famously insightful and famously complex, Eihei Dogen’s writings have been studied and puzzled over for hundreds of years. In Deepest Practice, Deepest Wisdom, Kosho Uchiyama, beloved twentieth-century Zen teacher addresses himself head-on to unpacking Dogen’s wisdom from three fascicles (or chapters) of his monumental Sh o b o genz o for a modern audience.
The fascicles presented here from Sh o b o genz o , or Treasury of the True Dharma Eye include “Shoaku Makusa” or “Refraining from Evil,” “Maka Hannya Haramitsu” or “Practicing Deepest Wisdom,” and “Uji” or “Living Time.” Tom Wright and Shohaku Okumura lovingly translate Dogen’s penetrating words and Uchiyama’s thoughtful commentary on each piece. At turns poetic and funny, always insightful, this is Zen wisdom for the ages.
Kosho Uchiyama (内山 興正 Uchiyama Kōshō?, 1912—March 13, 1998) was a Sōtō priest, origami master, and abbot of Antai-ji near Kyoto, Japan.
Uchiyama was author of more than twenty books on Zen Buddhism and origami,of which Opening the Hand of Thought: Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice is best known.
Uchiyama graduated from Waseda University with a masters degree in Western philosophy in 1937 and was ordained a priest in 1941 by his teacher Kodo Sawaki.Throughout his life, Uchiyama lived with the damaging effects of tuberculosis. Uchiyama became abbot of Antai-ji following Sawaki's death in 1965 until he retired in 1975 to Nokei-in, also near Kyoto, where he lived with his wife. Following the death of his teacher he led a forty-nine day sesshin in memorial of his teacher. In retirement he continued his writing, the majority of which consisted of poetry.