About Eihei Kōroku

Eihei Kōroku, also known by its English translation Dōgen's Extensive Record, is a ten volume collection of works by the Sōtō Zen monk Eihei Dōgen. The bulk of the text, accounting for volumes one through seven, are "Dharma hall discourses", which are highly formalized Dharma talks, given from 1236 to 1252. Volume eight consists of "informal meetings" that would have taken place in Dōgen's quarters with select groups of monks, as well as "Dharma words", which were letters containing practice instructions to specific students. Volume nine includes a collection of 90 traditional kōans with verse commentary by Dōgen, while volume 10 collects his Chinese poetry.