Eido Shimano Roshi\’s translations of Dogen
I’ve just obtained new Dogen translations, by Eido Shimano Roshi, of the Zen Studies Society in New York, and Charles Vacher. They’ve done Uji, Bussho, Yuibutsu Yobutsu, and Shoji.
These books are beautifully produced. Their version of “Uji” has the entire text hand-written by a 17th century monk on facing pages, and the other volumes have equally beautiful calligraphy throughout.
The translation itself, though, follows the faithful, literal approach, which has the disadvantage of resulting in English which is often unnatural and occasionally incomprehensible.
May 2nd, 2004 at 11:35
love dogen