The Mountains and Waters Sutra

An indispensible map of a classic Zen text.

“Mountains and waters are the expression of old buddhas.”

So begins “Sansuikyo,” or “Mountains and Waters Sutra,” a masterpiece of poetry and insight from Eihei Dogen, the thirteenth-century founder of the Soto school of Zen.

Shohaku Okumura—renowned for his translations of and magisterial teachings on Dogen—guides the reader through the rich layers of metaphor and meaning in “Sansuikyo,” which is often thought to be the most beautiful essay in Dogen’s monumental Shobogenzo. His wise and friendly voice shows us the questions Dogen poses and helps us realize what the answers could be. What does it mean for  mountains to walk? How are mountains an expression of Buddha’s truth, and how can we learn to hear the deep teachings of river waters? Throughout this luminous volume, we learn how we can live in harmony with nature in respect and gratitude—and awaken to our true nature.

Shohaku Okumura was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1948. He received his education at Komazawa University in Tokyo, Japan, where he studied Zen Buddhism. On December 8, 1970, Okumura was ordained at Antaiji by his teacher Kosho Uchiyama, and he practiced there until Uchiyama retired in 1975. He then traveled to the United States, where he cofounded Valley Zendo in Massachusetts and continued Uchiyama’s style of zazen practice there. In 1981 he returned to Japan and began translating the writings of Uchiyama and Eihei Dogen from Japanese into English. He taught at the Kyoto Soto Zen Center in Japan, and the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center in Minneapolis, and was the director of the Soto Zen Buddhism International Center (previously called Soto Zen Education Center) in San Francisco from 1997 to 2010.

            He is the founding teacher of Sanshin Zen Community, based in Bloomington, Indiana, where he lives with his family.