Denkoroku

Denkōroku (伝光録, "Record of the Transmission of the Light"), written by Keizan Jokin Zenji in 1300, is a kōan collection of 53 enlightenment stories based on the traditional legendary accounts of the Zen transmission between successive masters and disciples in the Sōtō Zen Buddhist lineage from Shakyamuni Buddha to Japanese Zen Master Ejō, a first generation Dharma heir to Dōgen Kigen Zenji, who first brought the Sōtō Zen teaching from China to Japan. The format for each koan account is in four parts: (1) the presentation of the koan case that is the enlightenment encounter between master and disciple, (2) a brief biographical account on the life of the disciple including background notes on the initial meeting between the master and the disciple, (3) a commentary on the koan, and (4) a verse summarizing the point made by the master and understood by the disciple.

Bibliography

• Roshi P. T. N. Jiyu Kennett, Zen is Eternal Life, Shasta Abbey Press, 4th edition, 2000, ISBN 0930066200
• The Denkoroku: or The Record of the Transmission of the Light, by Keizan Zenji, translated by Rev. Hubert Nearman, Shasta Abbey Press, 2001, ISBN 0930066227
• Transmission of Light, Zen in the Art of Enlightenment by Zen Master Keizan, Translated and introduction by Thomas Cleary, North Point Press, San Francisco, 1990. ISBN 0865474338
• The Record of Transmitting the Light: Zen Master Keizan's Denkoroku, Translated and introduction by Francis Dojun Cook, Wisdom Publications, 2003, ISBN 0861713303