Beyond Sanity and Madness

Zen Master Dogen (1200-1253), the founder of the Soto Zen sect in Japan and one of the most brilliant minds Japan has ever produced, was a true giant of Asian thought whose works are of an astounding richness and profundity.  In this book, American Zen Master Genpo Merzel, one of the preeminent Western teachers of his generation who was himself trained in the tradition of Dogen, explores the essential features of Dogen’s vision of Zen training and practice as presented in three of his most important works.  

“The Way of Zen Master Dogen,” Merzel writes, “is to forget oneself and to go beyond all dualistic concepts of sanity and madness, good and evil, enlightened and deluded, Buddha and ordinary person.”  Merzel’s commentaries and insights offer an excellent introduction to Dogen’s work as well as a deeply felt exploration of its practical significance today.

Dennis Genpo Merzel Dennis Genpo Merzel trained under Zen Master Taizan Maezumi becoming a Zen teacher in 1980. He is one of a small group of Westerners recognized in both the Soto and Rinzai Zen traditions. In 1999, Genpo Roshi combined western psychology and Zen to create Big Mind, a self-discovery process that's been presented to thousands of people across America.