Zen has often been portrayed as being illogical and mystifying, even aimed at the destruction of the rational intellect. These new translations of the thirteenth-century Zen master Dogen--one of most original and important Zen writers--illustrate the rational side of Zen, which has been obscured through the centuries, tainting people's understanding of it.
Rational Zen consists of enlightening selections from Dogen's two masterworks, -Treasury of Eyes of True Teaching- (the famed Shobogenzo, Japan's most sophisticated philosophical work) and -Universal Book of Eternal Peace, - which until now has been unavailable in English. The translator also provides explanations of the inner meanings of Dogen's writings and sayings--the first commentaries of their kind of English. A compendium of authentic source materials further enhances the reader's insight into Dogen's methods, linking them to the great classical traditions of Buddhism that ultimately flowered in Zen.