White Wind Zen Community

A Community practising and teaching Dogen’s Zen since 1985

Intimate Reality

Zen Teachings on the Practice of Suchness

by Zen Master Anzan Hoshin

Ebook: PDF 433K
Book: draft edition*, 8.5" by 11", 40 pages, saddle stitch binding with colour cover

Intimate Reality is a translation of the text “Genjokoan: The Question of Our Lives” by Dogen zenji, the Founding Master of the Soto Zen Lineage, together with commentary on the text by Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi, a direct descendant of Dogen’s transmission.

The “Genjokoan” is one of the most important essay of Dogen’s masterwork, the “Shobogenzo, the Eye of the True Dharma”. A Teacher actually said that the ninety-five essays of the “Shobogenzo” are all offshoots of this one. In this essay, Dogen exposes some of the deepest and most radical aspects of Zen practice. By doing so, he brings us into a process of radical questioning into the very details of our moment to moment experience.

This translation arose through the interaction between Anzan roshi and his own Teacher Yasuda Joshu Dainen roshi, and is the fruition of many years of refining and polishing. In the commentary, Anzan roshi picks up each phrase and presents them to us in a way that relates the “Genjokoan” to Zen as it is practiced daily by each of us. Another very skillful, poetic and humorous Teaching is generously given for us to apply on a day to day, minute to minute, second to second, mind moment to mind moment basis.

“[…] for the teacher there is no one here or there,
there is only Awareness communicating itself to itself intimately.”

 

*Draft editions are made available so that you can make use of them before the formal publications take place. Slight variations might occur between them and the final published editions. They are not to be reproduced in any form without prior permission.