Moon in a Dewdrop

My book was printed yesterday via Amazon's print on demand service. It arrived today and was in beautiful condition. I'm impressed. I, of course, immediately delved into the work. The beginning Western student, as well as those further down their paths, will certainly find this work intriguing. Tanahashi's efforts and scholarly endeavors are a true gift to the western Zen family.

I am just a little somewhat Buddhist dog, but I love to read the words of the great philosophical masters, I really wish this book was available on kindle books so that I could listen to it using text to speech. It is a great book.

What a buy! Advertised as used but arrived in as-new condition.

I am a newcomer to Buddhism and Buddhist philosophy, and I have found great comfort I the writings of Master Dogen. My first inclination during my initial research was to expose myself only to primary sources, but this book provides clarification of the Zen perspective and an action plan for the inclusion of practice in one’s daily life. Some may not like the specificity or the obligation of the Master’s practices, but I appreciate the demands and structure, as I am in a non-Buddhist environment.

i'm conflicted. either i do not like dogens teachings, or i do not understand them. to put things in perspective i have read and studied the oldest known buddhist scriptures, tibetan book of the dead, lots of works by chan and zen masters, and so on, and i've understood them all. however dogen i find to be so vague and ethereal that it's next to useless for me. now perhaps it's just way over my head? i really can't say. all i can do is give my opinion.i can say i enjoy his poetry though.the book gets four stars because it is what it says it is: a collection of dogens writings. very good ones at that. my opinion of dogens teachings would be one star, but that's not fair to the book as i'm not rating him as the author, i'm rating a translation of an ancient work. the same as one wouldn't give the bhagavad gita a one star review because the story didn't grip them, one would only rate it one star if the translation or format were poor. these are books already accepted as ancient treasures, we don't need to rate them as works, only editions and translations.it lost one star for being kind of annoying. there are asterisks next to words that are in the glossary or other appendices of the book. sounds good, but there are these asterisks next to like every tenth word, so it's distracting and you feel like you're missing something every time you don't go and look for what it's leading you to. it's over notated basically which can be good if the book is very easy to navigate, but this one is not. for example an asterisk next to a word like "links" will lead you to the glossary where you look up "links" and it will say "see dependent origination" so you go there and it says "see causation" and finally under "causation" you find the information. as opposed to books that have numbered notes that correspond directly with a notes section, this book has that too, but many more asterisks than notes.

This is yet another great anthology of the teachings and life of Zen Master Dogen written by one of the worlds great Zen teachers and translators Kazuaki Tanahashi. The book is divided into chapters on specific topics (Practical Instructions, Philosophical Works, Poetic Imagery, Transmission of the Teaching, Poems 4 great appendixes) so you can read it from front to back or simply take a topic that looks interesting or appealing to you and read it. Plus it has a fantastic "Note" section in the back that covers each chapter and a great glossary and index. I recommend it highly.

A masterpiece of translation of one of the most important, poetic and joyous writings on nondualism ever! Seriously, just a perfect rendering of a great work. Sincere seekers should own this book and wear it out. Could not recommend it more highly. Obviously.

The selection of essays and order of presentation were faultless. The language is beautiful but in some places suffered an inescapable temporality. For example the word, "actualize" was forced in place of more harmonious terms like, "realize", "awaken", "manifest", etc. A phrase from the New Age, "resonate with" was again, forced, making the work instantly dated.The overall effect was that the translation became stuck in time and place: in San Francisco, the Human Potential Movement, 1980. This makes it much like some of the Victorian translations of Buddhist literature and gave it a faint, cloying after aroma of added agenda.This may be a problem inherent in art and literature by committee. The editors are to be thanked for making some of Dogen's most poetic writings available to the non-Oriental languages reader. The sincere student of Dogen should obtain other translations and compare them with this one. My copy is already well marked, with word corrections that I believe restore some of the harmony and spirit of Dogen's work.

Ótimo livro, com excelentes traduções de importantes textos de Dogen. Uma boa coletânea. Os textos de Dogen são bem complicados em sua maioria, confusos e ambíguos. Livro para se ler com paciência. Recomendado para quem já tem experiência.

THANKS

A beautiful book, reminiscent of St. Benedict's recommended rule. Dogen's inimitable style is the fingerprint of these works and when one reads them, it is like we are listening to him speak to us now, as if a moment bridges time. His wisdom is relevant now as it was then and advices simple in essence, yet complex to a secular world.The 'Moon in a Dewdrop,' is one of the must haves for any spiritual individual who practices meditation, zen or interconnectedness.A scholarly hand has captured the heart of Dogen and eternalized it on paper.

Gifted this to a friend. He is happy with the book.

This volume presents a lot of Dogen writings in a very helpful manner. Dogen is hard reading and only for the advanced student will this make sense. But when you do grasp Dogen, you realize that you are dealing with the most profound Japanese thinker who ever lived.