The Trace of the Moonbird

 The Wednesday evening study group has now started to discuss Master Dōgen's Fukan Zazengi . He wrote this short General Instruction for the Practice of Zazen shortly after he returned from China to Japan in around 1228. Fukan Zazengi remains the standard text for teaching Zazen in all groups belonging to the Sōtō family of Zen. It is concise, clear and practical. Any introduction to the practice of zazen you can come across is likely to be a variation of Fukan Zazengi . In the study group we are reading Dōgen's original words. But we are of course also heavily relying on existing translations. Below, I am sharing the excellent translation done by the Sōtō Zen Text Project and published in the booklet Sōtō Zen: An Introduction to Zazen by Sotoshu Shumucho, Tokyo, 2002. The details will be discussed in the study group. And I am planning to publish a summary of those discussions at some point. But for now only one little comment: Dōgen talks about the full- or half-lotus pos