Foreword of the Editor

YAMADA Kôun Roshi (1907-1989) delivered a series of teishos on the Hekiganroku (Blue
Cliff Record) in the zazenkais and sesshins in his San'un Zendo (Kamakura, Japan) as well as in
the summer sesshins in Jiganji (Tempel in Osaka, Japan) between 1973 and 1986: His first
teisho on Case 1 was on 2 December 1973, and the last teisho on 22 March 1986. These teishos
were simultaneously recorded into tapes and subsequently written down by hand (mostly by Mr.
OKAMOTO Isao) as well as translated into English by his English-speaking disciples.
In 1986 the Roshi asked me to re-work on the translation, so I started the work, partly
translating the original Japanese teishos anew, partly revising what had already been translated.
Soon our bi-monthly magazine Kyôshô began to regularly print the Roshi's teishos on the
Hekiganroku on the bilingual basis: the original Japanese text – with a certain editorial work done
by TONOIKE Hekiun Roshi – and my new English translation.
Since this translation is based upon the teishos that were orally held in the zendo, some
compositional irregularities occurred: Sometimes the recording was not complete, so we possess
no teishos on the Verse of a couple of Cases. In one Case the Roshi himself could not find enough
time to speak about the Verse. However, I did not dare to substitute the lacking parts with
materials from elsewhere.
I supplied the teishos with footnotes as they seemed fit especially for non-Japanese
readers (i.e., Yamada Kôun Roshi is not responsible for any of the footnotes). Useful Japanese
terms as well as Chinese words, together with English translation of some original Japanese
expressions, were put in the square brackets [ ] in the main text. Also, the words amplified by
the translator(s) or by the editor in order to clarify the original meaning were also inserted in the
same brackets [ ].
The "Preface of the Author" did not exist as such in the original teisho-series, but I
collected various comments by the Roshi concerning the general structure of the Hekiganroku as
well as some related episodes that the Roshi did mention in his teishos. So the "Preface" can
justly be called a collection of Roshi's speeches.
After publishing Case 34 the situation made it difficult for me to go on with the work, so
Paul SHEPHERD, who was the main translator at the time of the initial translation, took over the
revising work; especially from Case 39 on he has being carrying the exclusive responsibility for the
translation. I have been, however, cooperating with Paul in proofreading in the way that I
compare his translation with the Japanese original before each Case appears in the Kyôshô. We
have finished up to Case 80 as of September 2006. The following Homepage version is basically a
reproduction of the above-mentioned Kyôshô-version with some minor formal adjustments done by
the editor. We will try to bring all Cases (up to Case 100) onto the Homepage at the earliest
possible date for the benefit of the readers.
Last, but not least: It must be clearly stated that the copyright of these teishos belongs
exclusively to the Yamada Estate, Kamakura. Except for strictly private use, no part of the
teishos may be printed, reproduced and/or circulated in any manner without prior written
permission from the Yamada Estate (email: sanbo3a@mbp.nifty.com).
SATO Migaku
February 2005/October 2006