Living Dogen’s Genjokoan
An Introduction to the Teachings of Eihei Dogen
with Eko Jeff Kelley

Thursday evenings
6:30 – 8:00pm
Oct. 5 – Nov. 16, 2023

Eihei Dogen, 13th century Zen monk and founder of the Soto sect in Japan, is best known as the author of a collection of profound essays known as the Shobogenzo. This challenging body of writing is consistently studied in Zen groups around the world and continues to inspire religious thinkers of all kinds.

In this class, we will carefully work our way through Dogen’s text, “Genjokoan,” widely considered to be the best introduction and summary of his teaching. We will focus in particular on how the ideas presented in the text can affect our day-to-day practice. To help us in our study we will read Realizing Genjokoan by Shohaku Okumura. Weekly exercises will be offered to help embody the practice. The class will include talks, large and small group discussion and individual presentations by participants.

There will be six class sessions (in person and on Zoom) on Thursday evenings, 6:30 – 8:30pm. Class will meet Oct. 5, Oct 19, Oct 26, Nov 2, Nov 9 and Nov. 16. We will skip October 12 due to zazenkai.

Class is limited to 16 in person, no limit on Zoom.

Reading list
Required
Realizing Genjokoan, The Key to Dogen’s Shobogenzo by Shohaku Okumura, Wisdom Publications, 2010. This text is widely available in book form and in a free pdf file here.

Suggested
Flowers Fall — A Commentary on Dogen’s Gejokoan, Hakuun Yasutani, Shambala, 1996.
Dogen’s Genjo Koan: Three Commentaries, Counterpoint, 2011

Cost: $200 non-member/ $175 member