Master Dogen's Shobogenzo, Book 4 Paperback – Box set, May 23, 2006

Kindle version is very poor, it's like an odd PDF file, or set of images, not text that can NOT be adjusted to different devices and type sizes or typefaces. Makes it very hard to read on phone, and limited to view on laptop. This sub-standard kindle file should be made emphatically clear before anyone purchases it. It's not like any proper Kindel version of a book. Buy the paperback book instead.

I told a Zen teacher that I have a very hard time grasping Master Dogen. He said that Master Dogen probably had a hard time grasping Dogen. Think zen can be difficult and hard to understand? Welcome to the deep end where the green mountains walk on water. One day the world will recognize without understanding the brilliance of Dogen Zengi.

i thought at first i was someone else but it turns out i am not. i do suppose the first rule in logic is not to mistake one's self for anyone else and this i conclude includes one's self who is by this book's account an illusion. i heartily agree, or rather i would agree if there were a me to agree and yet here is the book and here i sit. the world still spins.

Master Dogen's Shobogenzo, Book 4 is a must buy for anyone who is serious about learning Zen Buddhism.

A Monumental Achievement!If you have not read Books 1 through 4 of this translation of the 95 chapter edition of Shobogenzo, do it now! If you have read them, do it again!Gudo Nishijima and Mike (Chodo) Cross's four volume translation of the 13th century Zen master Eihei Dogen's masterpiece marked the first English language translation of the entire 95 chapter version of Shobogenzo - The True Dharma-Eye Treasury (excepting the nearly useless translation by Kosen Nishiyama and John Stevens).By opting for a more "literal" rather than "interpretive" rendition, the translators have realized a monumental achievement by furnishing English readers with a reliable text that is certain to be invaluable for generations.This set is also packed with a wide selection of reference material, or "Aids to the Reader", including a translation of The Heart Sutra, Dogen's Fukanzazengi, and a generous selection of passages from the Lotus Sutra, Glossaries, a variety of tables offering data on everything from The Works of Dogen, to equivalents of Chinese/Japanese/Sanskrit/English.The extensive footnotes, while occasionally offering some overly "interpretive" (read: sectarian), provide readers with a vast amount of supplemental information with lucid explanations concerning cultural context, alternate readings, sources for material quoted in the body of the text, biographical (historical and traditional) information on personages appearing in the text, and much more.Book 1 - Table of Contents[1] BENDOWA - A Talk about Pursuing the Truth[2] MAKA-HANNYA-HARAMITSU - Maha-prajna-paramita[3] GENJO-KOAN - The Realized Universe[4] IKKA-NO-MYOJU - One Bright Pearl[5] JU-UNDO-SHIKI - Rules for the Hall of Heavy Cloud[6] SOKU-SHIN-ZE-BUTSU - Mind Here and Now Is Buddha[7] SENJO - Washing[8] RAIHAI-TOKUZUI - Prostrating to Attainment of the Marrow[9] KEISEI-SANSHIKI - The Voices of the River-Valley and the Form of the Mountains[10] SHOAKU-MAKUSA - Not Doing Wrongs[11] UJI - Existence-Time[12] KESA-KUDOKU - The Merit of the Kasaya[13] DEN-E - The Transmission of the Robe[14] SANSUIGYO - The Sutra of Mountains and Water[15] BUSSO - The Buddhist Patriarchs[16] SHISHO - The Certificate of Succession[17] HOKKE-TEN-HOKKE - The Flower of Dharma Turns the Flower of Dharma[18] SHIN-FUKATOKU - Mind Cannot Be Grasped [The former][19] SHIN-FUKATOKU - Mind Cannot Be Grasped [The latter][20] KOKYO - The Eternal Mirror[21] KANKIN - Reading SutrasBook 2 - Table of Contents[22] BUSSHO - The Buddha-nature[23] GYOBUTSU-YUIGI - The Dignified Behavior of Acting Buddha[24] BUKKYO - The Buddha's Teaching[25] JINZU - Mystical Power[26] DAIGO - Great Realization[27] ZAZENSHIN - A Needle for Zazen[28] BUTSU-KOJO-NO-JI - The Matter of the Ascendant State of Buddha[29] INMO - It[30] GYOJI - [Pure] Conduct and Observance [of Precepts] - Parts 1 & 2[31] KAI-IN-ZANMAI - Samadhi, State Like the Sea[32] JUKI - Affirmation[33] KANNON - Avalokitesvara[34] ARAKAN - The Arhat[35] HAKUJUSHI - Cedar Trees[36] KOMYO - Brightness[37] SHINJIN-GAKUDO - Learning the Truth with Body and Mind[38] MUCHU-SETSUMU - Preaching a Dream in a Dream[39] DOTOKU - Expressing the Truth[40] GABYO - A Picture of Rice Cake[41] ZENKI - All FunctionsBook 3 - Table of Contents[42] TSUKI - The Moon[43] KUGE - Flowers in Space[44] KOBUSSHIN - The Mind of Eternal Buddhas[45] BODAISATTA-SHISHOBO - Four Elements of a Bodhisattva's Social Relations[46] KATTO - The Complicated[47] SANGAI-YUISHIN - The Triple World is Only the Mind[48] SESSHIN-SESSHO - Expounding the Mind & Expounding the Nature[49] BUTSUDO - The Buddhist Truth[50] SHOHO-JISSO - All Dharmas are Real Form[51] MITSUGO - Secret Talk[52] BUKKYO - The Buddhist Sutras[53] MUJO-SEPPO - The Non-Emotional Preaches the Dharma[54] HOSSHO - The Dharma-nature[55] DARANI - Dharani[56] SENMEN - Washing the Face[57] MENJU - The Face-to-Face Transmission[58] ZAZENGI - The Standard Method of Zazen[59] BAIKE - Plum Blossoms[60] JUPPO - The Ten Directions[61] KENBUTSU - Meeting Buddha[62] HENSAN - Thorough Exploration[63] GANZEI - Eyes[64] KAJO - Everyday Life[65] RYUGIN - The Moaning of Dragons[66] SHUNJU - Spring and Autumn[67] SOSHI-SAIRAI-NO-I - The Ancestral Master's Intention in Coming from the West[68] UDONGE - The Udumbara Flower[69] HOTSU-MUJOSHIN - Establishment of the Will to the Supreme[70] HOTSU-BODAISHIN - Establishment of the Bodhi-mind[71] NYORAI-ZENSHIN - The Whole Body of the Tathagata[72] ZANMAI-O-ZANMAI - The Samadhi That Is King of Samadhis[73] SANJUSHICHI-BON-BODAI-BUNBO - The Thirty-seven Auxiliary Bodhi Methods[74] TEMBORIN - Turning the Dharma Wheel[75] JISHO ZANMAI - Samadhi as Self Experience[76] DAI SHUGYO - Great Practice[77] KOKU - Space[78] HATSU-U - The Patra[79] ANGO - The Retreat[80] TASHINTSU - The Power to Know Others' Minds[81] O SAKU SENDABA - A King's Seeking of Saindhava[82] JI-KUIN-MON - Sentences To Be Shown in the Kitchen Hall[83] SHUKKE - Leaving Family Life[84] SANJI-NO-GO - Karma in Three Times[85] SHIME - The Four Horses[86] SHUKKE-KUDOKU - The Merit of Leaving Family Life[87] KUYO-SHOBUTSU - Serving Offerings to Buddhas[88] KIE-SANBO - Taking Refuge in the Three Treasures[89] SHINJIN-INGA - Deep Belief in Cause and Effect[90] SHIZEN-BIKU - The Bhiksu in the Fourth Dhyana[91] YUI-BUTSU-YO-BUTSU - Buddhas Alone, Together With Buddhas[92] SHOJI - Life-and-Death[93] DOSHIN - The Will to the Truth[94] JUKAI - Receiving the Precepts[95] HACHI-DAININGAKU - The Eight Truths of a Great Human Being[Appendix 1] BUTSU-KOJO-NO-JI - The Matter of the Ascendant State of Buddha[Appendix 2] IPPYAKUHACHI-HOMYOMON - One Hundred and Eight Gates of Dharma-Illumination

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There are quite a few translations of Dogens Shobogenzo available in English. I like to work with this one as my primary reference for its effort be very close to the original and at the same time it is rather easy to read. Nearmans translation has also its qualities but it can be too descriptive and often is double the length, not getting the point. Tanahashis translation is also used often. It it is easy to read and clearly the shortes translation, yet by the continuous attempt to simplifiy a lot of the original meaning gets lost.

Dogen est devenu l'essence même des vrais pratiquants!