THE COMPLETION OF the translation of Dogen’s great work, the Treasury of the True Dharma Eye, is a milestone in Zen’s coming-of-age in the Western world. This work and Shasta Abbey’s recently completed translation of the text mark the absorption of Dogen’s lifework by Zen practitioners outside of Japan, and establishes the mind relic of Dogen’s written teaching in the English-speaking world.
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi came to the United States in 1959. Kazuaki Tanahashi began his English translation of Dogen in 1964. It has taken this amount of time for Soto Zen to lay down its roots here in North America. While more than thirty teachers and practitioners from San Francisco Zen Center and beyond have collaborated on the translation, Kaz’s contribution stands out—combining the roles of coach, teacher, cheerleader, and wordsmith—and his flexibility and integrity shine through. Knowing when to give time for a word or phrase to become ripe, a good translator demonstrates a remarkable patience and skill set.
The difficulty of translation cannot be underestimated. Kaz himself noticed that it wasn’t until he started to translate Dogen into English that he was able to complete his translation of Dogen from medieval into modern Japanese. Suzuki Roshi was a respected teacher in Japan, but when he spoke in English his teaching was outstanding. His creative expression in a different social linguistic context demonstrated the depth of his understanding. My own experience with translation is that I may understand something a little bit, but to express it in another language takes a deeper intimacy with the material. For many of us cotranslators this project has been a stretching and testing of our dharma limits.
In closing, I would like to acknowledge the committed sangha whose sincere and daily practice of the buddha way has supplied the background and context of the teaching in this book. My hope is that its publication continues to inspire a new expression of the dharma for this age: May the dharma floursh in the ten directions!
DAIRYU MICHAEL WENGER
Beginner’s Mind Temple,
San Francisco Zen Center
December 8, 2008