Zen Master Dogen

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

Kosho Uchiyama Roshi

KŌSHŌ UCHIYAMA, born in Tokyo in 1912, received a master’s degree in Western philosophy in 1937 and became a Zen priest in 1941 under Kōdō Sawaki Rōshi. Upon Sawaki’s death in 1965, he became abbot of Antaiji, a monastery then located on the outskirts of Kyoto. In addition to developing the practice at Antaiji and leading monthly sesshins, Uchiyama Rōshi wrote several books on Zen meditation and practice as well as over twenty books with modern-day translations of various fascicles of Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō, along with commentaries.

"This is a book that should grace the shelves of any practitioner, not only because of Dogen's classic text but also for the unequivocal way in which the commentary amplifies the text and makes the very important point that a Buddhist practice, if it is to mean anything, must touch every area of life and not just the confines of the meditation cushion." —The Middle Way

"I am glad to see Uchiyama Roshi's classic commentary to Instructions for the Zen Cook back in print. Dogen's original text (here in Thomas Wright's lucid translation) is particularly applicable to everyday spirituality in the world, and Roshi's commentary, full of gritty, funny stories about his early days as a monk in pre- and post-war Japan, and charming tales from Buddhist and Japanese folklore, evidence a plain-speaking, shoot-from-the hip approach to Zen that is as refreshing now (possibly more so!) as it was when the book first came out. Zen masters of this full-bodied tasty vintage are hard to find these days!" —Zoketsu Norman Fischer, former abbot, San Francisco Zen Center; founder and teacher, Everyday Zen Foundation; author of Taking Our Places: The Buddhist Path to Truly Growing Up