The Record of Transmitting the Light: Zen Master Keizan's Denkoroku

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Summary: The Living Lineage of Soto Zen
Review: From Shakyamuni Buddha through fifty three generations of successors to Koun Ejo, the lineage of Soto Zen Buddhism unfolds.

Each chapter centers on a pivotal exchange between a Zen ancestor and his successor. These exchanges, preserved and used as koans, represent the living transmission of awakened mind, presented by Keizan Zenji, co-founder with Dogen Zenji, of the Japanese Soto school.

Master Keizan's lucid commentaries and verses on each case render the succession accessible to the determined practitioner. This masterful collection, parallelling in importance the Shobogenzo of Dogen Zenji, remains a seminal text for all serious students of Zen.

The translation by Francis Dojun Cook is at once meticulous and vivid, embodying careful scholarship as well as the essence of the realization of these fifty three Zen ancestors.

Time spent with this book will richly reward the reader.