Baishui Zen

Category: Zen Readings

  • Entering by Practice: Part Four

    This is our last post on the text of this essay itself. Following this post, I will do one more, where I will try to give something of a “dharma talk” on this essay. I don’t know how long it will be, but I will try to write down my…

  • Entering by Practice: Part Three

    In this post we’re continuing to read Outline of Practice. We’ll follow the same format as before, discussing the difference between Red Pine’s translation of the text and my own amateur one, from the original Chinese included. Stuff in my translation that is arguably missing from Red Pine is in…

  • Entering By Practice: Part Two

    In this post we’re continuing to read Outline of Practice. We’ll follow the same format as before, discussing the difference between Red Pine’s translation of the text and my own amateur one, from the original Chinese included. Stuff in my translation that is arguably missing from Red Pine is in…

  • Entering By Practice: Part One

    In this post we’re continuing to read Outline of Practice. We’ll follow the same format as before, discussing the difference between Red Pine’s translation of the text and my own amateur one, from the original Chinese included. Stuff in my translation that is arguably missing from Red Pine is in…

  • Entering by Reason

    This post kicks off our discussion of the Zen record. The first text we’ll be looking at is Bodhidharma’s Two Entrances and Four Practices, also known as Outline of Practice. The format of these posts will all be the same. I’ll post the original Chinese, my translation, and a translation…

  • Reading the Zen Record

    Some years ago when I was in school, I read Brook Ziporyn’s translation of the Zhuangzi, which is an absolutely beautiful book. Ziporyn takes tremendous care to point out words that are Zhuangzi’s own inventions, or at least usages unique to him. Furthermore, he goes into great detail in appendices…