Dogen Writings: Eihei Koroku and Eihei Shingi

[Seiko]

Can anyone recommend English Translations of the Eihei Kōroku and the Eihei Shingi please?

Gasshō
Seiko
stlah

[Jundo]

Can anyone recommend English Translations of the Eihei Kōroku and the Eihei Shingi please?

Gasshō
Seiko
stlah

The best English translation of the Koroku is by Okumura and Leighton (there is one by Thomas Clearly, but it is loser and not as often cited):

DŌGEN’S EXTENSIVE RECORD: A Translation of the Eihei Kōroku
https://wisdomexperience.org/product...ensive-record/

Also, those two have the most often cited Eihei Shingi ...

Dōgen's Pure Standards for the Zen Community
https://sunypress.edu/Books/D/Dogen-...-Zen-Community

If money is a hardship, there are copies available online (with the authors "looking the other way" out of wish to have them read, as I heard from one of them.)

Gassho, J

stlah

[Bion]

All I have for the Eihei-shingi is from “Zen is Eternal Life” by Rev. Jiyu Kennett

Sat Today lah

[Jundo]

All I have for the Eihei-shingi is from “Zen is Eternal Life” by Rev. Jiyu Kennett

Sat Today lah

Frankly, anything from the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives and/or Kennett Roshi will tend to be, well, beautiful but flowery, with her small flights of fancy in language, and some attempt to make things sound like the Biblical Book of Psalms, plus her adapting things to her group and her own vision of practice. Also, whole sections are missing. I would be cautious. Taigen and Okumura are more precise as translators and scholars.

On the other hand, what I often recommend to the serious Dogen student is to read two or three translations of his writings side-by-side, and extrapolate or triangulate where he might have been coming from in the original.

Gassho, J

stlah

[Bion]

Frankly, anything from the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives and/or Kennett Roshi will tend to be, well, beautiful but flowery, with her small flights of fancy in language, and some attempt to make things sound like the Biblical Book of Psalms, plus her adapting things to her group and her own vision of practice. I would be cautious.

On the other hand, what I often recommend to the serious Dogen student to read two or three translations of his writings side-by-side, and extrapolate or triangulate where he might have been coming from his the original.

Gassho, J

stlah

That is good to know! Thank you! I was in the middle of investigating right now. I actually typed my reply as you were posting yours, otherwise I wouldn’t have posted, to be honest.

Sat Today lah

[Jundo]

I just looked at Rev. Kennett's version. Whole sections of the Shingi are not included. Here is an example sentence or two of her version and Okumura/Leighton of a section from the Regulations for the Study Hall (Shuryo Shingi). Quite different, and O/L is much closer to the actual Japanese:

[K] Nyojo Zenji, my former master, once said to his trainees, “Have you ever read the scripture delivered by the Buddha on His deathbed? Within this hall we must love each other and be deeply grateful for the opportunity of possessing a compassionate mind which enables us to be parents, relatives, teachers and wise priests; because of this compassionate mind our countenances will for ever show tenderness and our lives will for ever be blissful.

[O/L] My late teacher [Tiantong Rujing] said in a lecture, "Have you ever studied the Sutra of the Last Instructions?" The whole pure assembly should abide in mindfulness that everyone in the study hall is each other's parent, sibling, relative, teacher, and good friend. With mutual affection take care of each other sympathetically, and if you harbor some idea that it is very difficult to encounter each other like this, nevertheless display an expression of harmony and accommodation.

Gassho, J

stlah

[Seiko]

I just looked at Rev. Kennett's version

Thank you.

I first encountered Jiyu Kennett's version around 1978/79 in my early days with OBC. I know her translations are very much her own. Even though I now view her approach and vision - for zen in the western world - as somewhat unusual, I am deeply grateful to her, for she provided my first real introduction to Sōtō Zen.

Gasshō
Seiko
stlah

[Seiko]

Here is an example sentence or two:

"...everyone in the study hall is each other's parent, sibling, relative, teacher, and good friend. With mutual affection take care of each other sympathetically, and if you harbor some idea that it is very difficult to encounter each other like this, nevertheless display an expression of harmony and accommodation."

I feel that sense of family here at Treeleaf. To support and be supported.

Gasshō
Seiko
stlah