The Roots of Goodness

Zen master Kōshō Uchiyama illuminates the eight qualities of a great person as enumerated by the Buddha and the seminal thirteenth-century Zen master Eihei Dōgen.

As his life drew to a close, the seminal thirteenth-century Zen master Eihei Dōgen chose to make his final teaching a commentary on the Buddha’s own final teaching, which was on the eight qualities of a great person. In Dōgen’s phrasing, those qualities are

• having few desires,
• knowing one has enough,
• appreciating serenity,
• making diligent effort,
• not losing sight of the true dharma,
• concentrating on settling in meditative absorption,
• practicing wisdom, and
• not engaging in useless argument.

In The Roots of Goodness, the inimitable Japanese Zen teacher Kōshō Uchiyama Röshi delivers an insightful commentary on these eight qualities, plumbing their deep roots in Buddhism while also showing their applications to modern life. Daitsū Tom Wright, a longtime student of Uchiyama, translates his teacher’s words, presents an original translation of Dōgen’s fascicle, and offers his own commentary on the role this teaching played in Uchiyama Rōshi’s life and teachings.