Description
In this volume, The Buddhist Society presents Yoka Daishi’s Realizing the Way, a T’ang Dynasty Chinese text known as Zhang Dao Ge, or Shodoka in Japanese. This 12th century Japanese edition has been translated by the Venerable Myokyo-ni and accompanied throughout by her own commentary on the text. The title, which is variously translated, is most commonly known as ‘The Song of Enlightenment’.
With vivid imagery and striking turns of phrase, these verses weave in and out of the various Mahayana doctrines. The sixty-seven verses of Yoka Daishi’s Song on the Realization of the Way lie at the heart of Mahayana thought and symbolise the germ of the Buddha-nature inherent in all sentient beings – hidden and dormant, but containing the potential and promise of liberation. With vivid imagery and striking turns of phrase, these verses weave in and out of the various Mahayana doctrines. Each section of the Song is accompanied here by extensive and illuminating commentary.
Yoka Daishi’s Realizing the Way – Translation and Commentary by the Venerable Myokyo-ni, The Buddhist Society Trust, 2017.
