The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye (Shobogenzo) is the masterwork of Dogen (1200-1253), founder of the Soto Zen Buddhist sect in Kamakura-era Japan. It is one of the most important Zen Buddhist collections, composed during a period of remarkable religious diversity and experimentation. The text is complex and compelling, famed for its eloquent yet perplexing manner of expressing the core precepts of Zen teachings and practice.

This book is a comprehensive introduction to this essential Zen text, offering a textual, historical, literary, and philosophical examination of Dogen's treatise. Steven Heine explores the religious and cultural context in which the Treasury was composed and provides a detailed study of the various versions of the medieval text that have been compiled over the centuries. He includes nuanced readings of Dogen's use of inventive rhetorical flourishes and the range of East Asian Buddhist textual and cultural influences that shaped the work. Heine explicates the philosophical implications of Dogen's views on contemplative experience and attaining and sustaining enlightenment, showing the depth of his distinctive understanding of spiritual awakening. Readings of Dogen's Treasury of the True Dharma Eye will give students and other readers a full understanding of this fundamental work of world religious literature.
Readings of Dogen's "Treasury of the True Dharma Eye", Steven Heine, Columbia University Press, Paperback, 312 pp, $35.00

Steven Heine is professor of religious studies and history and director of Asian studies at Florida International University. His many books include Did Dogen Go to China: What He Wrote and When He Wrote It (2006) and Dogen: Textual and Historical Studies (2013).

List of Illustrations	vii
Preface	ix
PART I. Textual sources and Resources
1. Creativity and Originality: Orientations, Reorientations, and Disorientations	3
2. Receptivity and Reliability: Numerous Levels of Significance	33
3. Multiplicity and Variability: Differing Versions and Interpretations	60
PART II. Religious Teachings and Practices
4. Reality and Mentality: On Perceiving the World of Sentient and Insentient Beings	91
5. Temporality and Ephemerality: On Negotiating Living and Dying	119
6. Expressivity and Deceptivity: To Speak or Not to Speak	145
7. Reflexivity and Adaptability: The Functions and Dysfunctions of Meditation	175
8. Rituality and Causality: On Monastic Discipline and Motivation	201
Appendix 1: Titles of Treasury Fascicles	227
Appendix 2: Comparison of Versions of the Treasury	231
Appendix 3: Timeline for Dogen and the Treasury	235
Appendix 4: Complete Translations of the Treasury	239
Character Glossary	243
Notes	259
Bibliography	277
Index	289