I have no other comment than simply saying this book is great! I particularly liked the chapters on zazen (especially 'Zazen by alone' as this is what I do where I live - there is no teacher), Genjo Koan, Death but the other chapters are also exceptional. Like the first book from Brad Warner (Hardcore Zen) this is a book you'll end up reading again and again.

Kind regards

Ilias

Previous reviewers of this book have highlighted just how clearly Brad Warner has rendered the language and teachings of Dogen, making them accessible in way that few previous commentators have. Given that Dogen's style - at least in English - manages to be simultaneously impenetrable, poetic and surreal, in other words a bit like, say, the Joyce of `Finnegans Wake', or the arcane lyrics of Mark E. Smith, this is a remarkable achievement. But I think Warner also deserves credit for the clarity with which he illuminates more mainstream Buddhist teachings. In particular, his chapter on the twelve-fold chain of causation made a lot more sense to me than any of the explanations I have come across in academic works on this topic, while his comments about anatta and the Heart Sutra nicely complement the more formal presentation of this kind of thing that you get in mainstream introductory textbooks. In other words, both this title and `Hardcore Zen' are great for teachers and students of Buddhism in high schools and universities, as well as those whose spiritual path is Zen. Finally, I loved the humour in this book and the frequent pop culture name-checking (the Ramones, Lucy Liu, Paris Hilton, Keith Richards etc), which reminds me that those who like the punk rock approach to religion should also check out Michael Muhammad Knight (author of [[ASIN:1570271798 Blue-eyed Devil]] and [[ASIN:1570271674 The Taqwacores: A Novel]]), who is currently inspiring a nascent Muslim punk movement through his writings.