Zen in daily life

Zen teacher Dogen and the Soto approach to Zen

About Shobogenzo

From Danny Waxman book: Zen Questions and Answers.

Q: What is Shobogenzo?

A: Shobogenzo is a Zen-text that was written by Dogen. The meaning of the name is: The Eyes and the Treasure of the True Law. The Treasure is the treasure that every human being has within him. The Eyes are the eyes of truth. Shobogenzo contains 95 chapters. It is considered worldwide as one of deepest and most important spiritual and philosophical work that was ever written in Japan. To understand Shobogenzo it is necessarily to sit Zazen.

Dogen's work contains the essence, and the most important points of Zen and Buddhism. In my opinion, no other Zen-text until this day can equal Shobogenzo. Dogen describes in Shobogenzo how any human being can find his true self and reach satori. It contains Dogen's ideas on the existential state of the human being and his relationship to the world and the immediate reality. In Shobogenzo, Dogen writes about the destiny of every human being, the direct way to achieve Satori, understand time, life and death and many other subjects. Some of the most important chapters in this book are: GenjoKoan (finding Koan in daily living), Bendowa (how to learn Zen), Uji (on Time), Shoji (on life-death), Zenki (full functioning in daily life) and many others.