A Talk On Pursuing The Truth: A commentary on Bendowa, the first chapter in Buddhist monk Dogen's book Shobogenzo

This is my favorite dharma book and I have read hundreds. This branch of the Soto tree, I find the most practical and loyal to Dogen. It is simple and to the point. This lineage is of people very much in the world with jobs and families.

Nearly 800 years ago, Master Dogen called all to Zazen, as he had learned from his teacher in China, Master Tendo Nyojo, a way of practice-realization which Dogen set out for the first time in his "Fukanzazengi" and his 'Talk on Pursuing the Truth,' the "Bendowa." This Bendowa, in a few pages, celebrates the power of sitting Zazen, recounts some of Master Dogen's travels in China to encounter his teacher, followed by a series of questions and answers further clarifying the meaning and specialness of upright sitting in the way of the Buddhas and Ancestors. Before his death in 2014, my Teacher, the Soto Zen priest Gudo Wafu Nishijima, offered this English translation with his student Chodo Cross, together with Nishijima Roshi's own words calling all to Zazen, adding some answers to questions asked by modern Zen students whom Nishijima Roshi encountered during his many years teaching Japanese and foreigners in Japan. Now, my Dharma Brother, Peter Rocca, has done us all a great service by collecting and publishing this series of talks in book form.The book presents Zazen as the sitting of the Buddhas and Ancestors embodied in our sitting. There is something important about stopping, straightening the back, releasing the thoughts and finding the balance which Nishijima Roshi knew deeply in his more than seven decades of sitting Zazen. Nishijima, like Dogen in Bendowa, urged everyone to undertake this marvelous practice which is open to all out in the world, not only priests, whether man, woman, all of us without distinction. Dogen reminds us here that this can be known in daily life, with our other duties and responsibilities, any time.I also heard my teacher's voice coming through these pages loud and clear, as if I was again seated at one of his Zazen sittings and Talks in Chiba, Hongo or the Tokei-in temple. His simple message is clear: Sit Zazen and the heart becomes clear. Nine Bows, Roshi. Thank you, Peter.

Nearly 800 years ago, Master Dogen called all to Zazen, as he had learned from his teacher in China, Master Tendo Nyojo, a way of practice-realization which Dogen set out for the first time in his "Fukanzazengi" and his 'Talk on Pursuing the Truth,' the "Bendowa." This Bendowa, in a few pages, celebrates the power of sitting Zazen, recounts some of Master Dogen's travels in China to encounter his teacher, followed by a series of questions and answers further clarifying the meaning and specialness of upright sitting in the way of the Buddhas and Ancestors. Before his death in 2014, my Teacher, the Soto Zen priest Gudo Wafu Nishijima, offered this English translation with his student Chodo Cross, together with Nishijima Roshi's own words calling all to Zazen, adding some answers to questions asked by modern Zen students whom Nishijima Roshi encountered during his many years teaching Japanese and foreigners in Japan. Now, my Dharma Brother, Peter Rocca, has done us all a great service by collecting and publishing this series of talks in book form.The book presents Zazen as the sitting of the Buddhas and Ancestors embodied in our sitting. There is something important about stopping, straightening the back, releasing the thoughts and finding the balance which Nishijima Roshi knew deeply in his more than seven decades of sitting Zazen. Nishijima, like Dogen in Bendowa, urged everyone to undertake this marvelous practice which is open to all out in the world, not only priests, whether man, woman, all of us without distinction. Dogen reminds us here that this can be known in daily life, with our other duties and responsibilities, any time.I also heard my teacher's voice coming through these pages loud and clear, as if I was again seated at one of his Zazen sittings and Talks in Chiba, Hongo or the Tokei-in temple. His simple message is clear: Sit Zazen and the heart becomes clear. Nine Bows, Roshi. Thank you, Peter.