Bendōwa

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The Bendōwa (弁道話, Bendōwa^?), meaning Discourse on the Practice of the Way or Negotiating the Way, is the first chapter in Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō which is a "treatise on zazen practice as the 'right entrance' to the Dharma."^[1] Divided into two sections, the first touts the superiority of zazen to all other forms of Buddhist practice, explains what jijuyu zanmaei (or, jijuyu samadhi) is, and tells of his travels throughout China.^[1] The remaining text utilizes a "question and answer format" where Dōgen answers questions set forward by an archetypal beginning Zen student.^[2] Jijuyu zanmaei can be translated to mean literally "samadhi of self-fulfillment." Kosho Uchiyama comments, "...we can understand this samadhi of self-fulfillment and enjoyment as the samadhi or concentration on the self when it simply receives and accepts its function, or its spiritual position in the world."^[3] Dōgen's Bendōwa was the second piece he wrote following his return from China to Japan, written in 1231.^[2] The work did not surface until the Edo period, never having before appeared in earlier editions of the Shōbōgenzō. In 1684 it appeared in manuscript form, then later in 1788 it had its first major publication in one volume. It has often been said that it "contains within it the essence of all ninety-five fascicles of Shōbōgenzō.^[1]