Zen Master Dogen`s Bendowa is one of the primary texts on Zen practice. Transcending any particular school of Buddhism or religious belief, Dogen`s profound and poetic writings are respected as a pinnacle of world spiritual literature. Bendowa, or A Talk on the Wholehearted Practice of the Way , was written in 1231 and expresses Dogen`s teaching of the essential meaning of zazen (seated meditation) and its actual practice. Included in this edition is an introduction by Reverend Shohaku Okumura, Director of the North American Soto School in Los Angeles.