Lori R. Meeks

We propose to publish a book-length translation and analysis of _Kōshō Bosatsu Eison gokyōkai chōmonshū_ (Collected Instructions of Kōshō Bodhisattva Eison), which consists of nearly eighty short teachings by Eison (1201-1290), recorded and edited by his closest disciples when he was in his 80s. This text, which has not been translated into English (or into any Western languages, as far as we know), provides an intimate glimpse into the life and thinking of a monk who died perhaps the most prominent and charismatic Buddhist figure of his day. It offers a wealth of nuanced information not only about the details of Eison’s contributions to the development of Japanese Buddhism, but also about thirteenth-century Japanese Buddhism more broadly, and its place in the Buddhist world of East Asia.