How to Cook Your Life From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

by Dogen; Roshi, Kosho Uchiyama

• ISBN13: 9781590302910
• ISBN10: 1590302915
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-11-08
• Publisher: Shambhala

Summary

In the thirteenth century, Zen master Dogen-perhaps the most significant of all Japanese philosophers, and the founder of the Japanese Soto Zen sect-wrote a practical manual ofInstructions for the Zen Cook. In drawing parallels between preparing meals for the Zen monastery and spiritual training, he reveals far more than simply the rules and manners of the Zen kitchen; he teaches us how to "cook," or refine our lives. In this volume Kosho Uchiyama Roshi undertakes the task of elucidating Dogen's text for the benefit of modern-day readers of Zen. Taken together, his translation and commentary truly constitute a "cookbook for life," one that shows us how to live with an unbiased mind in the midst of our workaday world.

Author Biography

Dogen (1200–1253) is known as the founder of the Japanese Soto Zen sect.

Table of Contents

Translator's Introduction	vii
Instructions for the Zen Cook: Tenzo Kyokun	3	(20)
Zen Master Dogen
How to Cook Your Life: Jinsei Ryori no Hon	23	(1)
Kosho Uchiyama Roshi
The Tenzo Kyokun and Shikan-taza	23	(8)
Concerning the Religious Life	31	(4)
The True Form of the Self	35	(4)
Everything You Encounter is Your Life	39	(7)
Seeing the World Without Holding Worldly Values	46	(5)
On Parental Mind	51	(5)
Having a Passion for Life	56	(5)
Direction and Goal	61	(4)
Making Life Calculations	65	(5)
Working with Clear Vision	70	(7)
Living Through the Life of the Self	77	(5)
On Life Force and Life Activity	82	(5)
The Function of a Settled Life	87	(5)
Throwing Your Life into the Abode of the Buddha	92	(7)
Notes	99	(14)
Glossary	113