841Uif

EDITOR . s INTRODUCTION I 95From what has been said it is clear that the roslli's role in Zentraining is transcendent. No one, nothing can take the place of adeeply enlightened master, and fo rtunate indeed is the student whosekarma brings him into contact with one. But wise, compassionatemasters are hard to fmd nowadays-as they probably always havebeen. Is it impossible, then, to undertake the practice of Zen withouta teacher? By no means. In the material comprising this section theserious-minded student will find answered by an outstanding contemporaryroshi virtually every question connected with practicethat is likely to arise for him. A thorough reading of this section,therefore, along with the other sections, in which all the steps ofpractice are clearly set fo rth, will enable anyone to commence hisjourney on the road to enlightenment.A word may be in order as to how this dokusan material was compiled.It was my privilege to be able to act as interpreter fo r Yasutaniroshifo r several years, a circumstance which placed me in the uniqueposition of being privy to the problems ofWesterners practicing Zenunder him in Japan, and to the advice and instructions he gave them.It occurred to me that if these questions and answers could be recordedthey would be of incalculable value to students in the West and elsewherewho wished to discipline themselves in Zm yet lacked competentteachers. Furthermore, they would go a long way, I felt, towarddispelling the widespread notion that Zen is deliberate mystificationor a "sadistic expression ofJapanese culture," as some poorlyinformed critics have termed it.The use of a tape or other recording device was out of the questionsince it would have made the students self-conscious and interferedwith their dokusan, and hence would never have been allowed byYasutani-roshi. On the other hand, fo r me to have attempted to makenotes during dokusan would have been objectionable fo r the samereasons, and in any case would have been impossible if I were to makean adequate interpretation. I thereupon turned to the idea of jottingdown in shorthand at the conclusion of each dokusan, while thedialogue was still fresh in my mind, everything that had transpired.I believe that despite my less than perfect knowledge of Japanese Ihave rendered a faithful transcription of the substance of the dialoguethat passed between Y asutani-roshi and Ills ten Western students.Whenever I was in doubt I carefully verified my understanding with