Masao Abe (1915 - 2006)

From the Wind Bell in 1973

DR. MASAO ABE, accomplished Buddhist scholar and translator of Dogen, visited us around New Year's. He had been to the United States several times previously, and met Suzuki-roshi briefly at Zen Center in 1969. This time he stayed for five days, sitting zazen morning and evening and taking his meals with the students. Dr. Abe has been for over thirty years the disciple of Shin' lchi Hisamatsu, a famous lay teacher of Zen in Japan and an internationally known authority on Zen art.

Dr. Abe spent a great deal of time talking informally with the students and answering their questions. He seemed most interested in hearing personal accounts of Suzuki-roshi, while the students wanted to know about his translations of Dogen's work which have been appearing regularly in The Eastern Buddhist for the past three years (for more about The Eastern Buddhist, see elsewhere in this issue). In a lecture to the students, Dr. Abe explained the great difficulty of even reading—let alone translating—Dogen's writings. Dogen, besides being one of the greatest Zen masters in Japan's history, was an innovative literary genius who, finding the existing language of his era inadequate to fully express his Buddhist understanding, created his own terms and special usages. Dr. Abe and his collaborator, Dr. Norman Waddell, try to capture this quality in English, using extensive footnotes to supplement the text, and to explain the sometimes awkward necessities of "Dogen-English." Dr. Abe is an ideal person to do these translations. Besides having a great command of English, his long experience as a teacher of Zen allows him to realize the spirit of Dogen's words.

We are very fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet Dr. Abe, and we hope that he will be able to return again next year for a longer stay.

In Wikipedia | Masao Abe books on Amazon

From an interview with Blanche and Lou Hartman, Blanche said: I remember right after Suzuki Roshi died Masao Abe said you should have people tell their stories of experiences with Suzuki Roshi right away - this is the most important thing you have to do is keep a record of Suzuki Roshi and his teaching and we never did it.

In the Wind Bell: The Concept Of Self As Reflected In Zen Buddhist Literature, by Masao Abe

Dr. Masao Abe to be a scholar in residence at Zen Center in 1989-90.

Introduction to Masao Abe and Norman Waddell's translation of Genjokoan in DC's Genjo Koan study

Zen in America by Masao Abe

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