Rev. Shinshu Roberts’ Meeting the Myriad Things Published
About Meeting the Myriad Things
A guide to awakening buddha mind for the contemporary Zen practitioner.
From Shambala:
In the words of Eihei Dōgen, the thirteenth-century Buddhist monk who introduced the Sōtō school of Zen to Japan, “To study the Buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things.” Centuries later, these enigmatic words from his seminal “Genjōkōan” (“Actualizing the Fundamental Point”) are still studied in Zen communities the world over.
But what did Dōgen really mean when he encouraged studying the self to forget the self? In this clarifying new commentary, esteemed Zen teacher Shinshu Roberts takes readers on a journey to understand Japan’s great Buddhist philosopher. Roberts applies her deep familiarity with Dōgen’s work to illuminate the text as a unified story in which Dōgen reveals the nondual nature of reality.
“Though it is inspiring, Meeting the Myriad Things is not an inspirational book; though it is enormously informative, its purpose is not to inform. With the blend of scholarship, painstaking attention to detail, and compassionate care for the actual condition of contemporary practitioners that characterizes her previous work, here Shinshu Roberts gives us a full and precise commentary to Dōgen’s most famous essay, “Genjokoan,” his most lofty work. This is an important book for anyone who wants to engage in serious Dōgen study.”
“Shinshu Roberts leads us into Dōgen’s world as she models persistent care in listening to his heart pulsing through the words. Respecting him as a profound Dharma teacher, she fearlessly faces what appears to be impenetrable terrain in the landscape of his words, determined to mine their compassionate wisdom. Her success is our boon, enabling us to commune with Dōgen and the Dharma in our midst.”
