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In Going Through the Mystery's One Hundred Questions we sit together with a passionate Zen pilgrim, Yuantong, and his cold-blooded teacher, the Soto
Zen master Wansong, also the teacher of Genghis Khan. They hail to us from sometime in the thirteenth century. We get to eavesdrop as a sincere student asks burning, heartfelt question after question. And as a genuine teacher responds with turning word after turning word.
We are able to participate in their teacher-student relationship due to the presence of Wansong's attendant, Linquan, who later also became a famous Zen master and teacher of Kublai Khan. Linquan clarifies the meaning of each interaction in verse. Dosho Port has translated the original text and added
brief commentaries to each Q&A to help the contemporary reader access the deep truths presented by these three exemplary practitioners.
The book is intended to offer inspiration and guidance for any earnest spiritual seeker. The thirteenth century was an enormously rich time for Zen with many profoundly awakened and skillful teachers, including Wansong and Linquan. However, this book is primarily about urgent, spiritual questions. What is this one great life-and-death that we share? How can the intimate truth be realized and embodied with great compassion for the benefit of all living beings?
About the author
Dosho Port Roshi is a senior Zen teacher who began practice in 1977 with the Zen pioneer, Dainin Katagiri Roshi. After thirteen years of rigorous training, Dosho received dharma transmission from Katagiri Roshi. After Katagiri Roshi's death in 1990, Dosho went on to study with twenty Zen teachers in Europe, Japan, and the US, receiving inka shomei from James Myoun Ford Roshi in the Harada-Yasutani hybrid lineage. He now co-teaches with Tetsugan Zummach Sensei with the Vine of Obstacles: Online Support for Zen Training, an internet-based Zen community. Dosho is the author of "Keep Me In Your Heart a While: The Haunting Zen of Dainin Katagiri" and "The Record of Empty Hall: One Hundred Classic Koans." Dosho's blog can be found at Wild Fox Zen: Living the Dream, on Patheos. After decades of roaming the planet, he recently returned to his hometown and lives near Lake Superior.
