Comments on: Dropping out of the body/mind game http://www.numenware.com/article/350 Religion. Brain. Dogen. Language. Japan. Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:39:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Dieter Fehlbaum, Zurich http://www.numenware.com/article/350#comment-284 Dieter Fehlbaum, Zurich Fri, 18 Nov 2005 15:43:18 +0000 http://www.numenware.com/article/350#comment-284 “English translations invariably render this as casting off body and mind. Reading these translations you can almost hear the translators saying to themselves, great, there’s something I don’t have to think about how to translate, and the readers saying to themselves, my, what a very Zen-like thing for Dogen to say. But this translation is not just wrong, it’s harmful. I’m just imagining all the poor Zen students sitting there on their cushions trying to figure out how to cast off their bodies and minds like the book says!” Very good!! This is not only the problem with shinjin datsuraku, it is also the problem with genjokoan, dotoku and so on. I’ll comment the rest of your text an other time. Kind regards, Dieter Fehlbaum “English translations invariably render this as casting off body and mind. Reading these translations you can almost hear the translators saying to themselves, great, there’s something I don’t have to think about how to translate, and the readers saying to themselves, my, what a very Zen-like thing for Dogen to say. But this translation is not just wrong, it’s harmful. I’m just imagining all the poor Zen students sitting there on their cushions trying to figure out how to cast off their bodies and minds like the book says!”

Very good!! This is not only the problem with shinjin datsuraku, it is also the problem with genjokoan, dotoku and so on. I’ll comment the rest of your text an other time. Kind regards, Dieter Fehlbaum

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