Dōgen Zenji also Dōgen Kigen or Eihei Dōgen, 1200- 1253; Japanese Zen master who brought the tradition of the Sōtō school to Japan; without any question the most important Zen master of Japan. He is also considered Japan’s greatest religious personality and is venerated there by all Buddhist schools as a saint or bodhisattva. However, he is often misunderstood as having been a philosopher and referred to as the “most profound and original thinker” ever produced by Japan. What is missed here is that his writings, although they do treat man’s most profound existential questions, do not represent a philosophy of life. What Dōgen writes does not originate in philosophical speculation and is not the result of a thought process but rather is the expression of immediate inner experience of the living truth of Zen.
In 1223 Dōgen traveled to China, where he experienced profound enlightenment under Master T’ien-t’ung Ju-ching and received from him the seal of confirmation (inka-shōmei) of the lineage of Sōtō Zen (ch’an). In 1227 he returned to Japan and lived for ten years in Kyōto, first in the Kennin-ji monastery, then in the Kōshō(hōrin)-ji monastery. In order to protect his lineage from the influence of worldly power, which in the imperial city was often all too great, he withdrew to a hermitage in Echizen province (today Fukui province). From the hut in which he then lived gradually developed a large monastery, first called Daibutsu-ji, later Eihei-ji. It is still today, with Sōji-ji, one of the most important monasteries of Japanese Sōtō Zen. Dogen’s principal work, Shōbō-genzō, is considered one of the most profound writings of Japanese Zen literature and as the most outstanding work of the religious literature of Japan.
In accordance with the teachings of the Sōtō school, Dōgen emphasizes that shikantaza is the supreme and true form of zazen (also mokushō Zen, – Zen, esoteric). However, he by no means rejected training with the help of kōans, as favored by the Rinzai school (also kanna Zen), which can be seen from the fact that he put together a collection of 300 kōans, providing each one with his own commentary and obviously also used them in Zen training (nempyo sambyaku soku, “Three Hundred Kōans with Commentary.”) Other works of Dōgen Zenji, which, unlike the Shobo-genzo, are introductory in character, are the Fukan zazengi and the Shōbō-genzō zuimonki.
The most important stages of Dōgen’s development can be summarized as follows (Kapleau 1980):
“Born of an aristocratic family, Dōgen even as a child gave evidence of his brilliant mind. It is related that at four he was reading Chinese poetry and at nine a Chinese translation of a treatise on the Abhidharma. The sorrow he felt at his parents’ death . . . undoubtedly impressed upon his sensitive mind the impermanence of life and motivated him to become a monk. With his initiatin into the Buddhist monkhood at an early age, he commenced his novitiate at Mount Hiei, the center of scholastic Buddhism in medieval Japan, and for the next several years studied the Tendai doctrines of Buddhism. By his fifteenth year one burning question became the core around which his spiritual strivings revolved: ‘If, as the sūtras say, our Essential-nature is Bodhi (perfection), why did all Buddhas have to strive for enlightenment and perfection?’ His dissatisfaction with the answers he received at Mount Hiei led him eventually to Eisai-zenj i, who had brought the teachings of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism from China to Japan. Eisai’s reply to Dōgen’s question was: ‘No Buddha is conscious of its existence [that is, of this Essential nature], while cats and oxen [that is, the grossly delud
ed] are aware of it.’
” . . . At these words Dōgen had an inner realization [kenshō] which dissolved his deep-seated doubt. . . . Dōgen thereupon commenced what was to be a brief discipleship under Eisai, whose death took place with in the year and who was succeeded by his eldest disciple, Myōzen [Ryōnen]. During the eight years Dōgen spent with Myōzen he passed a considerable number of kōans and finally received inka.
“Despite his accomplishment Dōgen still felt spiritually unfulfilled, and this disquiet moved him to undertake the then-hazardous journey to China in search of complete peace of mind [anjin]. He stayed at all the well-known monasteries, practicing under many masters, but his longing for total liberation was unsatisfied. Eventually at the famous T’ien-t’ung monastery, which had just acquired a new master, he achieved full awakening, that is the liberation of body and mind, through these words uttered by his master, Ju-ching: ‘You must let fall body and mind.’
” . . . Later Dōgen appeared at Ju-ching’s room, lit a stick of incense (a ceremonial gesture usually reserved for noteworthy occasions), and prostrated himself before his master in the customary fashion.
” ‘Why are you lighting a stick of incense?’ asked Ju-ching.
” ‘I have experienced the dropping off of body and mind,’ replied Dōgen.
“Ju-ching exclaimed: ‘You have dropped body and mind, body and mind have indeed dropped!’
“But Dōgen remonstrated: ‘Don’t give me your sanction so readily!’
” ‘I am not sanctioning you so readily.’
“Reversing their roles, Dōgen demanded: ‘Show me that you are not readily sanctioning me. ‘
“And Ju-ching repeated: ‘ This is body and mind dropped,’ demonstrating.
“Whereupon Dōgen prostrated himself again before his master as a gesture of respect and gratitude.
” ‘That’s “dropping dropped, ” ‘ added Ju-ching”
Even after this profound experience Dōgen continued his zazen training in China for another two years before returning to Japan, where he founded the Japanese tradition of Sōtō Zen that has flourished until the present day.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
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