THE TRUE DHARMA EYE

THE TRUE DHARMA EYE
John Daido Loori
Shambhala Books

Zen koans often read like short scraps of conversation with the ‘before’ and ‘after’ parts loped off. At first (and second) glance it is difficult to imagine them as effective teaching devices, given their elliptical style and our cultural distance. However, what if we are mistaken? What if our befuddlement has to do with the quality of attention we bring to these texts? What if they are exquisitely packaged gifts that we just don’t know how to open correctly? The True Dharma Eye, 300 koans brought back from China to Japan in 1228 by Zen Master Eihei Dogen, is one of the foundational koan collections, and we owe Shambhala Books a deep bow of gratitude for making this key text available. Zen Roshi John Loori has written an indispensable introduction on how to work with this material (“Koan introspection is not about gaining information; it is about transforming your life.”), as well as fulsome commentaries and notes on each of the koans. Kaz Tanahashi’s translations are felicitous.