Rational Zen: The Mind of Dogen Zenji

by Thomas Cleary

Zen has often been portrayed as being illogical and mystifying, even aimed at the destruction of the rational intellect. These new translations of the thirteenth-century Zen master Dogen—one of most original and important Zen writers—illustrate the rational side of Zen, which has been obscured through the centuries, tainting people's understanding of it.

Rational Zen consists of enlightening selections from Dogen's two masterworks, "Treasury of Eyes of True Teaching" (the famed Shobogenzo , Japan's most sophisticated philosophical work) and "Universal Book of Eternal Peace," which until now has been unavailable in English. The translator also provides explanations of the inner meanings of Dogen's writings and sayings—the first commentaries of their kind of English. A compendium of authentic source materials further enhances the reader's insight into Dogen's methods, linking them to the great classical traditions of Buddhism that ultimately flowered in Zen.

Genres: Zen, Buddhism, Spirituality, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Religion

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Dr. Thomas Francis Cleary, Ph.D. (East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University; J.D., Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley), was a prolific translator of Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and Muslim classics, with a particular emphasis on popular translations of Mahāyāna works relevant to the Chan, Zen, and Soen systems.

Reviews

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rational Zen includes selections of two of Dogen's most famous works, Shobogenzo (Treasury of Eyes of True Teaching) and Eihei Koruko (Universal book of Eternal Peace). Neither of which make light reading. This is Zen teaching at its most sophisticated and its difficulty should not be under-estimated. Fortunately Cleary provides a comprehensive introduction and detailed explanatory notes and source materials which do provide assistance along the way.

[PsychoSchematics · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read it half-way through, then discontinued. Wasn't impacting me like the others in my library have.