This publication represents an English rendering of one of the great classics of Japanese Buddhism, the Shōbōgenzō, by Dōgen (1200–1253), founder of the Sōtō Zen school. The translation was produced by the Sōtō Zen Text Project, a team of scholars working under the auspices of the Administrative Headquarters of Sōtō Zen Buddhism. It is based on the Japanese edition of the Shōbōgenzō in Kawamura Kōdō ed., Dōgen zenji zenshū, volumes 1–2, which provides what are thought to be the most authoritative compilations of Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō essays, in seventy-five and twelve chapters, supplemented by sixteen additional texts.

The translations, in seven volumes, are aimed at both professional and lay audiences. They are accompanied by the Japanese texts and by extensive annotation on the language, literary sources, and interpretations of those texts. An eighth volume provides a lengthy study of the history and contents of the Shōbōgenzō, supplementary notes to the translation, and an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary works.