In the "Kana Shobogenzo" important question-answer dialogues, in particular those used in koan, were selected from goroku (descriptions of what priests said during their lives) in order to express Dogen's Zen philosophy, this philosophy being explained by annotating each of the dialogues.
（仮字）『正法眼蔵』は、道元の禅思想を表現するために、語録から特に公案で使われてきた重要な問答を取り出し、それに説明注釈する形で教えを述べている。