Dogen
Encyclopedia
Dōgen Zenji (19 January 1200 – 22 September 1253) was a Japanese
Zen
Buddhist
teacher born in Kyōto
, and the founder of the Sōtō
school of Zen in Japan after travelling to China and training under the Chinese Caodong
lineage there. Dōgen is known for his extensive writing including the Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma or Shōbōgenzō
, a collection of ninety-five fascicles concerning Buddhist practice and enlightenment.
as a high-ranking . His mother is said to have died when Dōgen was age 7.
, the headquarters of the Tendai school
of Buddhism. Later in life, while describing his time on Mt. Hiei, he writes that he became possessed by a single question with regard to the Tendai doctrine:
This question was, in large part, prompted by the Tendai concept of "original enlightenment" (本覚 hongaku), which states that all human beings are enlightened by nature and that, consequently, any notion of achieving enlightenment through practice is fundamentally flawed.
As he found no answer to his question at Mount Hiei, and as he was disillusioned by the internal politics and need for social prominence for advancement, Dōgen left to seek an answer from other Buddhist masters. Dōgen went to visit Kōin, the Tendai abbot of Onjōji Temple
(園城寺), asking him this same question. Kōin said that, in order to find an answer, he might want to consider studying Chán
in China. In 1217, two years after the death of contemporary Zen Buddhist Myōan Eisai, Dōgen went to study at Kennin-ji Temple
(建仁寺), under Eisai's successor, Myōzen (明全). In 1223, Dōgen and Myōzen undertook the dangerous passage across the East China Sea
to China
to study in Jing-de-si (Ching-te-ssu, 景德寺) monastery as Eisai had once done.
. At the time, most Chan teachers based their training around the use of gōng-àns (Japanese: kōan). Though Dōgen assiduously studied the kōans, he became disenchanted with the heavy emphasis laid upon them, and wondered why the sutras were not studied more. At one point, owing to this disenchantment, Dōgen even refused Dharma transmission from a teacher. Then, in 1225, he decided to visit a master named Rújìng
(如淨; J. Nyōjo), the thirteenth patriarch of the Cáodòng
(J. Sōtō) lineage of Zen Buddhism, at Mount Tiāntóng (天童山 Tiāntóngshān; J. Tendōzan) in Níngbō
. Rujing was reputed to have a style of Chan that was different from the other masters whom Dōgen had thus far encountered. In later writings, Dōgen referred to Rujing as "the Old Buddha". Additionally he affectionately described both Rujing and Myōzen as .
Under Rujing, Dōgen realized liberation of body and mind upon hearing the master say, "Cast off body and mind" (身心脱落 shēn xīn tuō luò). This phrase would continue to have great importance to Dōgen throughout his life, and can be found scattered throughout his writings, as—for example—in a famous section of his "Genjōkōan" (現成公案):
Myōzen died shortly after Dōgen arrived at Mount Tiantong. In 1227, Dōgen received Dharma transmission
and inka
from Rujing, and remarked on how he had finally settled his "life's quest of the great matter".
, or sitting meditation
. However, tension soon arose as the Tendai community began taking steps to suppress both Zen and Jōdo Shinshū
, the new forms of Buddhism in Japan. In the face of this tension, Dōgen left the Tendai dominion of Kyōto in 1230, settling instead in an abandoned temple in what is today the city of Uji
, south of Kyōto. In 1233, Dōgen founded the Kannon-dōri-in in Uji as a small center of practice; he later expanded this temple into the Kōshō-hōrinji Temple (興聖法林寺). In 1243, Hatano Yoshishige (波多野義重) offered to relocate Dōgen's community to Echizen province
, far to the north of Kyōto. Dōgen accepted because of the ongoing tension with the Tendai community, and his followers built a comprehensive center of practice there, calling it Daibutsu Temple (大仏寺). While the construction work was going on, Dōgen would live and teach at Yoshimine-dera Temple (Kippōji, 吉峯寺), which is located close to Daibutsuji. In 1246, Dōgen renamed Daibutsuji, calling it Eihei-ji
. This temple remains one of the two head temples of Sōtō Zen in Japan today, the other being Sōji-ji
.
Dōgen spent the remainder of his life teaching and writing at Eiheiji. In 1247, the newly installed shōgun's regent
, Hōjō Tokiyori
, invited Dōgen to come to Kamakura
to teach him. Dōgen made the rather long journey east to provide the shōgun with lay ordination, and then returned to Eiheiji in 1248. In the autumn of 1252, Dōgen fell ill, and soon showed no signs of recovering. He presented his robes to his main apprentice, Koun Ejō (孤雲懐弉), making him the abbot of Eiheiji. Then, at Hatano Yoshishige's invitation, Dōgen left for Kyōto in search of a remedy for his illness. In 1253, soon after arriving in Kyōto, Dōgen died. Shortly before his death, he had written a death poem
:
, roughly translatable as "nothing but precisely sitting", which is a kind of sitting meditation in which the meditator sits "in a state of brightly alert attention that is free of thoughts, directed to no object, and attached to no particular content".
("Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma").
For Dōgen, the practice of zazen and the experience of enlightenment were one and the same. This point was succinctly stressed by Dōgen in the Fukan Zazengi, the first text that he composed upon his return to Japan from China: "To practice the Way singleheartedly is, in itself, enlightenment. There is no gap between practice and enlightenment or zazen and daily life". Earlier in the same text, the basis of this identity is explained in more detail:
The "oneness of practice-enlightenment" was also a point stressed in the Bendōwa
(弁道話 "A Talk on the Endeavor of the Path") of 1231:
Dōgen's masterpiece is the aforementioned Shōbōgenzō
, talks and writings—collected together in ninety-five fascicles—on topics ranging from monastic practice to the philosophy of language, being, and time. In the work, as in his own life, Dōgen emphasized the absolute primacy of shikantaza and the inseparability of practice and enlightenment.
Dōgen also compiled a collection of 301 koans in Chinese without commentaries added. Often called the Shinji Shōbōgenzō
(shinji:”original or true characters” and shōbōgenzō, variously translated as “the right-dharma-eye treasury” or “Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma” ). The collection is also known as the Shōbōgenzō Sanbyakusoku (The Three Hundred Verse Shōbōgenzō”) and the Mana Shōbōgenzō, where mana is an alternative reading of shinji. The exact date the book was written is in dispute but Nishijima believes that Dogen may well have begun compiling the koan collection before his trip to China. Although these stories are commonly referred to as kōans, Dōgen referred to them as kosoku (ancestral criteria) or innen (circumstances and causes or results, of a story). The word kōan for Dogen meant “absolute reality” or the “universal Dharma”.
Lectures that Dōgen gave to his monks at his monastery, Eihei-ji
, were compiled under the title Eihei Kōroku, also known as Dōgen Oshō Kōroku (The Extensive Record of Teacher Dōgen’s Sayings) in ten volumes. The sermons, lectures, sayings and poetry were compiled shortly after Dōgen’s death by his main disciples, Koun Ejō
(孤雲懐奘, 1198–1280) , Senne and Gien. There are three different editions of this text: the Rinnōji text from 1598; a popular version printed in 1672 and a version discovered at Ehei-ji in 1937 which, although undated, is believed to be the oldest extant version. Another collection of his talks is the Shōbōgenzō Zuimonki (Gleanings from Master Dōgen’s Sayings) in six volumes. These are talks that Dōgen gave to his leading disciple, Ejō, who became Dōgen’s disciple in 1234. The talks were recorded and edited by Ejō.
The earliest work by Dōgen is the Hōkojōki (Memoirs of the Hōkyō Period). This one volume work is a collection of questions and answers between Dōgen and his Chinese teacher, Tiāntóng Rújìng
(天童如淨; Japanese: Tendō Nyōjo, 1162–1228). The work was discovered among Dōgen’s papers by Ejō in 1253, just three months after Dōgen’s death.
Other notable writings of Dōgen are:
While it was customary for Buddhist works to be written in Chinese, Dōgen often wrote in Japanese, conveying the essence of his thought in a style that was at once concise, compelling, and inspiring. A master stylist, Dōgen is noted not only for his prose, but also for his poetry (in Japanese waka
style and various Chinese styles). Dōgen's use of language is unconventional by any measure. According to Dōgen scholar Steven Heine
: "Dogen's poetic and philosophical works are characterized by a continual effort to express the inexpressible by perfecting imperfectable speech through the creative use of wordplay, neologism, and lyricism, as well as the recasting of traditional expressions".
But his most notable successor was Keizan
(瑩山; 1268–1325), founder of Sōjiji Temple
and author of the Record of the Transmission of Light (傳光錄 Denkōroku
), which traces the succession of Zen masters from Siddhārtha Gautama
up to Keizan's own day. Together, Dōgen and Keizan are regarded as the founders of the Sōtō school in Japan.
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
teacher born in Kyōto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
, and the founder of the Sōtō
Soto
Sōtō Zen , or is, with Rinzai and Ōbaku, one of the three most populous sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism.The Sōtō sect was first established as the Caodong sect during the Tang Dynasty in China by Dongshan Liangjie in the 9th century, which Dōgen Zenji then brought to Japan in the 13th century...
school of Zen in Japan after travelling to China and training under the Chinese Caodong
Caodong
Cáodòng is a Chinese Zen Buddhist sect founded by Dongshan Liangjie and his Dharma-heirs in the 9th century. Some attribute the name "Cáodòng" as a union of "Dongshan" and "Caoshan" from one of his Dharma-heirs, Caoshan Benji; however, the "Cao" much more likely came from Cáoxī , the...
lineage there. Dōgen is known for his extensive writing including the Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma or Shōbōgenzō
Shobogenzo
The term Shōbōgenzō has three main usages in Buddhism: It can refer to the essence of the Buddha's realization and teaching, that is, to the Buddha Dharma itself, as viewed from the perspective of Mahayana Buddhism, it is the title of a koan collection with commentaries by Dahui Zonggao, and it...
, a collection of ninety-five fascicles concerning Buddhist practice and enlightenment.
Early life
Dōgen probably was born into a noble family, though as an illegitimate child of Minamoto Michitomo, who served in the imperial courtImperial Court in Kyoto
thumb|left|350px|Front view of Kyoto imperial palaceImperial Court in Kyoto was the nominal ruling government of Japan from 794 AD until the Meiji Era, in which the court was moved to Tokyo and integrated into the Meiji government....
as a high-ranking . His mother is said to have died when Dōgen was age 7.
Early training
At some later point, Dōgen became a low-ranking monk on Mount HieiMount Hiei
is a mountain to the northeast of Kyoto, lying on the border between the Kyoto and Shiga prefectures, Japan.The temple of Enryaku-ji, the first outpost of the Japanese Tiantai sect of Buddhism, was founded atop Mount Hiei by Saichō in 788. Both Nichiren and Honen studied at the temple before...
, the headquarters of the Tendai school
Tendai
is a Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism, a descendant of the Chinese Tiantai or Lotus Sutra school.Chappell frames the relevance of Tendai for a universal Buddhism:- History :...
of Buddhism. Later in life, while describing his time on Mt. Hiei, he writes that he became possessed by a single question with regard to the Tendai doctrine:
This question was, in large part, prompted by the Tendai concept of "original enlightenment" (本覚 hongaku), which states that all human beings are enlightened by nature and that, consequently, any notion of achieving enlightenment through practice is fundamentally flawed.
As he found no answer to his question at Mount Hiei, and as he was disillusioned by the internal politics and need for social prominence for advancement, Dōgen left to seek an answer from other Buddhist masters. Dōgen went to visit Kōin, the Tendai abbot of Onjōji Temple
Mii-dera
', formally called ', is a Buddhist temple located at the foot of Mount Hiei, in the city of Ōtsu, in Shiga Prefecture. It is only a short distance from both Kyoto, and Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake. The head temple of the Tendai Jimon sect, it is something of a sister temple to Enryakuji, at...
(園城寺), asking him this same question. Kōin said that, in order to find an answer, he might want to consider studying Chán
Chan
-People:* Chan Marshall, American musician better known as Cat Power* Chan , Chinese surname; Mandarin transcription of the same name is Chen ** Agnes Chan , Hong Kong singer, also famous in Japan...
in China. In 1217, two years after the death of contemporary Zen Buddhist Myōan Eisai, Dōgen went to study at Kennin-ji Temple
Kennin-ji
, is a historic Zen Buddhist temple in Higashiyama, Kyoto, Japan, near Gion. It is considered to be one of the so-called Kyoto Gozan or "five most important Zen temples of Kyoto".-History:...
(建仁寺), under Eisai's successor, Myōzen (明全). In 1223, Dōgen and Myōzen undertook the dangerous passage across the East China Sea
East China Sea
The East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean and covers an area of 1,249,000 km² or 750,000 square miles.-Geography:...
to China
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
to study in Jing-de-si (Ching-te-ssu, 景德寺) monastery as Eisai had once done.
Travel to China
In China, Dōgen first went to the leading Chan monasteries in Zhèjiāng provinceZhejiang
Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
. At the time, most Chan teachers based their training around the use of gōng-àns (Japanese: kōan). Though Dōgen assiduously studied the kōans, he became disenchanted with the heavy emphasis laid upon them, and wondered why the sutras were not studied more. At one point, owing to this disenchantment, Dōgen even refused Dharma transmission from a teacher. Then, in 1225, he decided to visit a master named Rújìng
Rujing
Tiāntóng Rújìng was a Caodong Buddhist monk living in Qìngdé Temple on Tiāntóng Mountain in Yinzhou District, Ningbo...
(如淨; J. Nyōjo), the thirteenth patriarch of the Cáodòng
Caodong
Cáodòng is a Chinese Zen Buddhist sect founded by Dongshan Liangjie and his Dharma-heirs in the 9th century. Some attribute the name "Cáodòng" as a union of "Dongshan" and "Caoshan" from one of his Dharma-heirs, Caoshan Benji; however, the "Cao" much more likely came from Cáoxī , the...
(J. Sōtō) lineage of Zen Buddhism, at Mount Tiāntóng (天童山 Tiāntóngshān; J. Tendōzan) in Níngbō
Ningbo
Ningbo is a seaport city of northeastern Zhejiang province, Eastern China. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, the municipality has a population of 7,605,700 inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 3,089,180 in the built up area made of 6 urban districts. It lies south of the Hangzhou Bay,...
. Rujing was reputed to have a style of Chan that was different from the other masters whom Dōgen had thus far encountered. In later writings, Dōgen referred to Rujing as "the Old Buddha". Additionally he affectionately described both Rujing and Myōzen as .
Under Rujing, Dōgen realized liberation of body and mind upon hearing the master say, "Cast off body and mind" (身心脱落 shēn xīn tuō luò). This phrase would continue to have great importance to Dōgen throughout his life, and can be found scattered throughout his writings, as—for example—in a famous section of his "Genjōkōan" (現成公案):
Myōzen died shortly after Dōgen arrived at Mount Tiantong. In 1227, Dōgen received Dharma transmission
Dharma transmission
Dharma transmission refers to "the manner in which the teaching, or Dharma, is passed from a Zen master to their disciple and heir...
and inka
Inka
, is a term used in Zen Buddhism to denote a high-level of certification, and literally means "the legitimate seal of clearly furnished proof." In ancient times inka usually came in the form of an actual document, but this practice is no longer commonplace...
from Rujing, and remarked on how he had finally settled his "life's quest of the great matter".
Return to Japan
Dōgen returned to Japan in 1227 or 1228, going back to stay at Kennin-ji, where he had trained previously. Among his first actions upon returning was to write down the Fukan Zazengi (普観坐禅儀; "Universally Recommended Instructions for Zazen"), a short text emphasizing the importance of and giving instructions for zazenZazen
In Zen Buddhism, zazen is a meditative discipline practitioners perform to calm the body and the mind, and be able to concentrate enough to experience insight into the nature of existence and thereby gain enlightenment .- Significance :Zazen is considered the heart of Zen Buddhist practice...
, or sitting meditation
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
. However, tension soon arose as the Tendai community began taking steps to suppress both Zen and Jōdo Shinshū
Jodo Shinshu
, also known as Shin Buddhism, is a school of Pure Land Buddhism. It was founded by the former Tendai Japanese monk Shinran. Today, Shin Buddhism is considered the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan.-Shinran :...
, the new forms of Buddhism in Japan. In the face of this tension, Dōgen left the Tendai dominion of Kyōto in 1230, settling instead in an abandoned temple in what is today the city of Uji
Uji, Kyoto
is a city on the southern outskirts of the city of Kyoto, in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. Founded on March 1, 1951, Uji is located between the two ancient capitals of Nara and Kyoto. The city sits on the Uji River, which has its source in Lake Biwa. As of April 1, 2008, Uji has an estimated population...
, south of Kyōto. In 1233, Dōgen founded the Kannon-dōri-in in Uji as a small center of practice; he later expanded this temple into the Kōshō-hōrinji Temple (興聖法林寺). In 1243, Hatano Yoshishige (波多野義重) offered to relocate Dōgen's community to Echizen province
Echizen Province
was an old province of Japan, which is today the northern part of Fukui Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Etchū and Echigo Provinces.Echizen is famous for washi . A text dated AD 774 mentions the washi made in this area. Echizen-produced Washi is still the most commonly sold traditional...
, far to the north of Kyōto. Dōgen accepted because of the ongoing tension with the Tendai community, and his followers built a comprehensive center of practice there, calling it Daibutsu Temple (大仏寺). While the construction work was going on, Dōgen would live and teach at Yoshimine-dera Temple (Kippōji, 吉峯寺), which is located close to Daibutsuji. In 1246, Dōgen renamed Daibutsuji, calling it Eihei-ji
Eihei-ji
is one of two main temples of the Sōtō sect of Zen Buddhism. Its founder was Eihei Dōgen. Eihei-ji is located about east of Fukui in Fukui Prefecture, Japan.- History :...
. This temple remains one of the two head temples of Sōtō Zen in Japan today, the other being Sōji-ji
Soji-ji
is one of two main temples of the Sōtō sect of Zen Buddhism. The temple was originally founded in 740 in Noto, but was totally destroyed by fire in 1898. It was rebuilt over a period of several years and reopened in its present location at Tsurumi, Yokohama in 1911. The temple also sustained...
.
Dōgen spent the remainder of his life teaching and writing at Eiheiji. In 1247, the newly installed shōgun's regent
Shikken
The was the regent for the shogun in the Kamakura shogunate in Japan. The post was monopolized by the Hōjō clan, and this system only existed once in Japanese history, between 1203 and 1333...
, Hōjō Tokiyori
Hojo Tokiyori
Hōjō Tokiyori was the fifth shikken of the Kamakura shogunate in Japan. He was born to Hōjō Tokiuji and a daughter of Adachi Kagemori....
, invited Dōgen to come to Kamakura
Kamakura, Kanagawa
is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, about south-south-west of Tokyo. It used to be also called .Although Kamakura proper is today rather small, it is often described in history books as a former de facto capital of Japan as the seat of the Shogunate and of the Regency during the...
to teach him. Dōgen made the rather long journey east to provide the shōgun with lay ordination, and then returned to Eiheiji in 1248. In the autumn of 1252, Dōgen fell ill, and soon showed no signs of recovering. He presented his robes to his main apprentice, Koun Ejō (孤雲懐弉), making him the abbot of Eiheiji. Then, at Hatano Yoshishige's invitation, Dōgen left for Kyōto in search of a remedy for his illness. In 1253, soon after arriving in Kyōto, Dōgen died. Shortly before his death, he had written a death poem
Death poem
A death poem is a poem written near the time of one's own death. It is a tradition for literate people to write one in a number of different cultures, especially in Joseon Korea and Japan.-History:...
:
- Fifty-four years lighting up the sky.
- A quivering leap smashes a billion worlds.
- Hah!
- Entire body looks for nothing.
- Living, I plunge into Yellow Springs.
Dōgen's Zen
At the heart of the variety of Zen that Dōgen taught are a number of key concepts, which are emphasized repeatedly in his writings. All of these concepts, however, are closely interrelated to one another insofar as they are all directly connected to zazen, or sitting meditation, which Dōgen considered to be identical to Zen, as is pointed out clearly in the first sentence of the 1243 instruction manual "Zazen-gi" (坐禪儀; "Principles of Zazen"): "Studying Zen ... is zazen". In referring to zazen, Dōgen is most often referring specifically to shikantazaShikantaza
is a Japanese term for zazen introduced by Rujing and associated most with the Soto school of Zen Buddhism. Ford cites on p. 224 an opinion that it is "the base of all Zen disciplines." Some people claim that according to Dōgen Zenji, shikantaza i.e...
, roughly translatable as "nothing but precisely sitting", which is a kind of sitting meditation in which the meditator sits "in a state of brightly alert attention that is free of thoughts, directed to no object, and attached to no particular content".
Oneness of practice-enlightenment
The primary concept underlying Dōgen's Zen practice is "oneness of practice-enlightenment" (修證一如 shushō-ittō / shushō-ichinyo). In fact, this concept is considered so fundamental to Dōgen's variety of Zen—and, consequently, to the Sōtō school as a whole—that it formed the basis for the work Shushō-gi (修證儀), which was compiled in 1890 by Takiya Takushū (滝谷卓洲) of Eihei-ji and Azegami Baisen (畔上楳仙) of Sōji-ji as an introductory and prescriptive abstract of Dōgen's massive work, the ShōbōgenzōShobogenzo
The term Shōbōgenzō has three main usages in Buddhism: It can refer to the essence of the Buddha's realization and teaching, that is, to the Buddha Dharma itself, as viewed from the perspective of Mahayana Buddhism, it is the title of a koan collection with commentaries by Dahui Zonggao, and it...
("Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma").
For Dōgen, the practice of zazen and the experience of enlightenment were one and the same. This point was succinctly stressed by Dōgen in the Fukan Zazengi, the first text that he composed upon his return to Japan from China: "To practice the Way singleheartedly is, in itself, enlightenment. There is no gap between practice and enlightenment or zazen and daily life". Earlier in the same text, the basis of this identity is explained in more detail:
The "oneness of practice-enlightenment" was also a point stressed in the Bendōwa
Bendowa
, meaning Discourse on the Practice of the Way or Dialog on the Way of Commitment, sometimes also translated as Negotiating the Way, is essay by Dōgen which appears as the first fascicle in some arrangements of Shōbōgenzō...
(弁道話 "A Talk on the Endeavor of the Path") of 1231:
Writings
Shobogenzo
The term Shōbōgenzō has three main usages in Buddhism: It can refer to the essence of the Buddha's realization and teaching, that is, to the Buddha Dharma itself, as viewed from the perspective of Mahayana Buddhism, it is the title of a koan collection with commentaries by Dahui Zonggao, and it...
, talks and writings—collected together in ninety-five fascicles—on topics ranging from monastic practice to the philosophy of language, being, and time. In the work, as in his own life, Dōgen emphasized the absolute primacy of shikantaza and the inseparability of practice and enlightenment.
Dōgen also compiled a collection of 301 koans in Chinese without commentaries added. Often called the Shinji Shōbōgenzō
Shinji Shobogenzo
The Shinji Shōbōgenzō or True Dharma Eye 300 Cases , or Treasury of the True Dharma Eye , compiled by Eihei Dōgen in 1223-1227, was first published in Japanese in 1766. The literary sources of the Shinji Shōbōgenzō are believed to have been the Keitoku Dentōroku and the Shūmon Tōyōshū...
(shinji:”original or true characters” and shōbōgenzō, variously translated as “the right-dharma-eye treasury” or “Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma” ). The collection is also known as the Shōbōgenzō Sanbyakusoku (The Three Hundred Verse Shōbōgenzō”) and the Mana Shōbōgenzō, where mana is an alternative reading of shinji. The exact date the book was written is in dispute but Nishijima believes that Dogen may well have begun compiling the koan collection before his trip to China. Although these stories are commonly referred to as kōans, Dōgen referred to them as kosoku (ancestral criteria) or innen (circumstances and causes or results, of a story). The word kōan for Dogen meant “absolute reality” or the “universal Dharma”.
Lectures that Dōgen gave to his monks at his monastery, Eihei-ji
Eihei-ji
is one of two main temples of the Sōtō sect of Zen Buddhism. Its founder was Eihei Dōgen. Eihei-ji is located about east of Fukui in Fukui Prefecture, Japan.- History :...
, were compiled under the title Eihei Kōroku, also known as Dōgen Oshō Kōroku (The Extensive Record of Teacher Dōgen’s Sayings) in ten volumes. The sermons, lectures, sayings and poetry were compiled shortly after Dōgen’s death by his main disciples, Koun Ejō
Koun Ejo
Koun Ejō was initially a disciple of the short-lived Darumashū sect of Japanese Zen under Nōnin, but later studied and received dharma transmission under Dōgen and is considered his spiritual successor by the Sōtō school. His transmission is the final koan chronicled in the Denkoroku...
(孤雲懐奘, 1198–1280) , Senne and Gien. There are three different editions of this text: the Rinnōji text from 1598; a popular version printed in 1672 and a version discovered at Ehei-ji in 1937 which, although undated, is believed to be the oldest extant version. Another collection of his talks is the Shōbōgenzō Zuimonki (Gleanings from Master Dōgen’s Sayings) in six volumes. These are talks that Dōgen gave to his leading disciple, Ejō, who became Dōgen’s disciple in 1234. The talks were recorded and edited by Ejō.
The earliest work by Dōgen is the Hōkojōki (Memoirs of the Hōkyō Period). This one volume work is a collection of questions and answers between Dōgen and his Chinese teacher, Tiāntóng Rújìng
Rujing
Tiāntóng Rújìng was a Caodong Buddhist monk living in Qìngdé Temple on Tiāntóng Mountain in Yinzhou District, Ningbo...
(天童如淨; Japanese: Tendō Nyōjo, 1162–1228). The work was discovered among Dōgen’s papers by Ejō in 1253, just three months after Dōgen’s death.
Other notable writings of Dōgen are:
-
- Fukan-zazengi (General Advice on the Principles of Zazen), one volume; probably written immediately after Dōgen’s return from China in 1227
- Eihei shoso gakudō-yōinshū (Advice on Studying the Way), one volume; probably written in 1234
- Tenzo-kyōkun (Instructions to the Chief Cook), one volume; written in 1237
- Benōhō (Rules for the Practice of the Way), one volume; written between 1244 and 1246
While it was customary for Buddhist works to be written in Chinese, Dōgen often wrote in Japanese, conveying the essence of his thought in a style that was at once concise, compelling, and inspiring. A master stylist, Dōgen is noted not only for his prose, but also for his poetry (in Japanese waka
Waka (poetry)
Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...
style and various Chinese styles). Dōgen's use of language is unconventional by any measure. According to Dōgen scholar Steven Heine
Steven Heine
Steven Heine, Ph.D., is a Professor of Religion and History as well as Director of the Institute for Asian Studies at Florida International University . He specializes in East Asian and comparative religions, Japanese Buddhism and medieval intellectual history, Buddhist studies, and religion and...
: "Dogen's poetic and philosophical works are characterized by a continual effort to express the inexpressible by perfecting imperfectable speech through the creative use of wordplay, neologism, and lyricism, as well as the recasting of traditional expressions".
Legacy
Dōgen's teachings were transmitted by his immediate pupils, including:- Koun EjōKoun EjoKoun Ejō was initially a disciple of the short-lived Darumashū sect of Japanese Zen under Nōnin, but later studied and received dharma transmission under Dōgen and is considered his spiritual successor by the Sōtō school. His transmission is the final koan chronicled in the Denkoroku...
, commentator on the ShobogenzoShobogenzoThe term Shōbōgenzō has three main usages in Buddhism: It can refer to the essence of the Buddha's realization and teaching, that is, to the Buddha Dharma itself, as viewed from the perspective of Mahayana Buddhism, it is the title of a koan collection with commentaries by Dahui Zonggao, and it...
, and former Darumashū elder - Giin, through Ejō
- Gikai, through Ejō
- GienGienGien is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France.Gien is on the Loire River, from Orléans. The town was bought for the royal property by Philip II of France. The town is twinned with Malmesbury in England.-Sights:*Faience de Gien...
, through Ejō - JakuenJakuenJìyuán , better known to Buddhist scholars by his Japanese name Jakuen, was a Chinese Zen monk and a disciple of Rujing. Most of his life is known to us only through medieval hagiography, legends, and sectarian works. It is generally agreed, though, that during his time at Tiāntóng Mountain he...
, the only Chinese disciple in the original community - SōkaiSokai-See also:*List of towns and villages in Tibet...
- SenneSennéSenné is a village and municipality in the Veľký Krtíš District of the Banská Bystrica Region of southern Slovakia.-External links:*http://www.statistics.sk/mosmis/eng/run.html...
, another commentator of the ShobogenzoShobogenzoThe term Shōbōgenzō has three main usages in Buddhism: It can refer to the essence of the Buddha's realization and teaching, that is, to the Buddha Dharma itself, as viewed from the perspective of Mahayana Buddhism, it is the title of a koan collection with commentaries by Dahui Zonggao, and it...
.
But his most notable successor was Keizan
Keizan
-Biography:Keizan Jōkin 螢山紹瑾 , also known as Taiso Jōsai Daishi, was the second of the great founders of the Sōtō Zen sect in Japan. While Dōgen Zenji, as founder of Japanese Sōtō, is known as , Keizan is often referred to as Taiso , or Greatest Patriarch...
(瑩山; 1268–1325), founder of Sōjiji Temple
Soji-ji
is one of two main temples of the Sōtō sect of Zen Buddhism. The temple was originally founded in 740 in Noto, but was totally destroyed by fire in 1898. It was rebuilt over a period of several years and reopened in its present location at Tsurumi, Yokohama in 1911. The temple also sustained...
and author of the Record of the Transmission of Light (傳光錄 Denkōroku
Denkoroku
, written by Keizan Jokin Zenji in 1300, is a kōan collection of 53 enlightenment stories based on the traditional legendary accounts of the Zen transmission between successive masters and disciples in the Sōtō Zen Buddhist lineage from Shakyamuni Buddha to Japanese Zen Master Ejō, a first...
), which traces the succession of Zen masters from Siddhārtha Gautama
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
up to Keizan's own day. Together, Dōgen and Keizan are regarded as the founders of the Sōtō school in Japan.
External links
- Who is Dogen Zenji? Message from Dogen
- Dogen Translations Translations of Dogen and other works by Anzan Hoshin.
- Genjo Koan, Uji, Bendowa, and Soshi Seirai I, texts written by Dogen (annotated English translations)
- Translations of the Shobogenzo incomplete, an ongoing project by the Soto Zen Text Project
- Understanding the Shobogenzo by Gudo Nishijima
- Instructions for the cook
- Dogen and Koans by John Daido Loori
- Shusho-gi, Online Translation by Neil Christopher
- Gakudo Yojin-shu, Online Translation by Neil Christopher
- Shushogi What is Truly Meant by Training and Enlightenment
- The Complete Shobogenzo free for download