A remarkable collection of essays, Shôbôgenzô was composed in the thirteenth century by the Zen master Dôgen, founder of the Sôtô Zen school in Japan. Through its linguistic artistry and its philosophical subtlety, the Shôbôgenzô presents a thorough recasting of Buddhism with a creative ingenuity that has never been matched in the subsequent literature of Japanese Zen.
Cleary succeeds in offering us a good deal ... in flowing English, [and] provides the best of Dôgen in a modest volume. His introductory comments give the reader a fair idea of what the main text is all about; the notes after each chapter are helpful without being cumbersome. The book will indeed make accessible to a wide audience a Zen classic that deserves world-wide attention."" --Monumenta Nipponica