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dogen writings: The Essential Dogen Kazuaki Tanahashi, Peter Levitt, 2013-04-30 These pithy and powerful readings provide a perfect introduction to the teachings of Zen master Dogen—and will inspire spiritual practice in people of all traditions Eihei Dogen (1200–1253), founder of the Soto School of Zen Buddhism, is one of the greatest religious, philosophical, and literary geniuses of Japan. His writings have been studied by Zen students for centuries, particularly his masterwork, Shobo Genzo or Treasury of the True Dharma Eye. This is the first book to offer the great master’s incisive wisdom in short selections taken from the whole range of his voluminous works. |
dogen writings: Abruptly Dogen Dōgen, Kidder Smith, 2022 In the thirteenth century Dogen brought Zen to Japan. His tradition flourishes there still today and now has taken root across the world. Abruptly Dogen presents some of his pith writings - startling, shifting, funny, spilling out in every direction. They come from all seventy-five chapters of his masterwork, the Eye of Real Dharma (Shōbōgenzō), and roam through mountains, magic, everyday life, meditation, the nature of mind, and how the Buddha is always speaking from inside our heads--Page 4 of cover. |
dogen writings: Dogen Steven Heine, 2021-12-21 An essential introduction to the life, writings, and legacy of one of Japan's most prolific Buddhist masters. The founder of the Soto school of Zen in Japan, Eihei Dogen (1200–1253) is one of the most influential Buddhist teachers of all time. Although Dogen’s writings have reached wide prominence among contemporary Buddhists and philosophers, there is much that remains enigmatic about his life and writings. In Dogen: Japan’s Original Zen Teacher, respected Dogen scholar and translator Steven Heine offers a nuanced portrait of the master’s historical context, life, and work, paying special attention to issues such as: The nature of the “great doubt” that motivated Dogen’s religious quest The sociopolitical turmoil of Kamakura Japan that led to dynamic innovations in medieval Japanese Buddhism The challenges and transformations Dogen experienced during his pivotal time in China Key inflection points and unresolved questions regarding Dogen’s teaching career in Japan Ongoing controversies in the scholarly interpretations of Dogen’s biography and teachings Synthesizing a lifetime of research and reflection into an accessible narrative, this new addition to the Lives of the Masters series illuminates thought-provoking perspectives on Dogen’s character and teachings, as well as his relevance to contemporary practitioners. |
dogen writings: The Essential Dogen Kazuaki Tanahashi, Peter Levitt, 2013-04-30 These pithy and powerful readings provide a perfect introduction to the teachings of Zen master Dogen—and will inspire spiritual practice in people of all traditions Eihei Dogen (1200–1253), founder of the Soto School of Zen Buddhism, is one of the greatest religious, philosophical, and literary geniuses of Japan. His writings have been studied by Zen students for centuries, particularly his masterwork, Shobo Genzo or Treasury of the True Dharma Eye. This is the first book to offer the great master’s incisive wisdom in short selections taken from the whole range of his voluminous works. |
dogen writings: Beyond Thinking Dogen, 2004-04-27 Spiritual practice is not some kind of striving to produce enlightenment, but an expression of the enlightenment already inherent in all things: Such is the Zen teaching of Dogen Zenji (1200–1253) whose profound writings have been studied and revered for more than seven hundred years, influencing practitioners far beyond his native Japan and the Soto school he is credited with founding. In focusing on Dogen's most practical words of instruction and encouragement for Zen students, this new collection highlights the timelessness of his teaching and shows it to be as applicable to anyone today as it was in the great teacher's own time. Selections include Dogen's famous meditation instructions; his advice on the practice of zazen, or sitting meditation; guidelines for community life; and some of his most inspirational talks. Also included are a bibliography and an extensive glossary. |
dogen writings: Moon in a Dewdrop Dōgen, 1985 |
dogen writings: Dogen Steven Heine, 2012-02-01 In this groundbreaking collection of essays edited by Steven Heine, leading scholars of Buddhism from both sides of the Pacific explore the life and thought of Zen Master Dogen (1200-1253), the founder of the Japanese Soto sect. Through both textual and historical analysis, the volume shows Dogen in context of the Chinese Chan tradition that influenced him and demonstrates the tremendous, lasting impact he had on Buddhist thought and culture in Japan. Special attention is given to the Shobogenzo and several of its fascicles, which express D?gen's views on such practices and rituals as using supranormal powers (jinzu), reading the sutras (kankin), diligent training in zazen meditation (shikan taza), and the koan realized in everyday life (genjokoan). Dogen: Textual and Historical Studies also analyzes the historical significance of this seminal figure: for instance, Dogen's methods of appropriating or contrasting with Chan sources, as well as how Dogen was understood and examined in later periods, including modern times. This book is a crucial contribution to the advancement of specialized studies of Dogen, as well as to the Chan/Zen school in the context of East Asian religions and their social and historical trends. |
dogen writings: Treasury of the True Dharma Eye Kazuaki Tanahashi, 2013-05-14 The complete English translation of one of the great Zen classics and works of Japanese literature, by the founder of the Soto school—now in a single volume Treasury of the True Dharma Eye (Shobo Genzo, in Japanese) is a monumental work, considered to be one of the profoundest expressions of Zen wisdom ever put on paper, and also the most outstanding literary and philosophical work of Japan. It is a collection of essays by Eihei Dogen (1200–1253), founder of Zen’s Soto school. Kazuaki Tanahashi and a team of translators that represent a Who’s Who of American Zen have produced a translation of the great work that combines accuracy with a deep understanding of Dogen’s voice and literary gifts. This eBook includes a wealth of materials to aid understanding, including maps, lineage charts, a bibliography, and an exhaustive glossary of names and terms—and, as a bonus, the most renowned of all Dogen’s essays, “Recommending Zazen to All People.” |
dogen writings: The Essential Dogen Zen Master Dogen, 2013-04-30 These pithy and powerful readings provide a perfect introduction to the teachings of Zen master Dogen—and will inspire spiritual practice in people of all traditions Eihei Dogen (1200–1253), founder of the Soto School of Zen Buddhism, is one of the greatest religious, philosophical, and literary geniuses of Japan. His writings have been studied by Zen students for centuries, particularly his masterwork, Shobo Genzo or Treasury of the True Dharma Eye. This is the first book to offer the great master’s incisive wisdom in short selections taken from the whole range of his voluminous works. |
dogen writings: A Primer of Soto Zen Dōgen, 1979-06-01 Zen was popularized in the West largely through the writings of Dr. D.T. Suzuki, who followed the school of Rinzai Zen. Although it remains relatively unknown in the West, Soto Zen eventually attracted the greatest number of followers in Japan. With its gentle, more intellectual approach, Soto Zen relies on deep meditation (zazen) rather than the sudden, direct method (using koan) of Rinzai Zen, in striving for enlightenment. The Shobogenzo Zuimonki consists largely of brief talks, horatatory remarks, and instructional and cautionary comments by the Soto Zen Master Dogen (1200-1253). Translated, shobogenzo means the eye of the true law. Roughly translated, zuimonki means easy for the ears to understand, or simplified. |
dogen writings: Dōgen and the Kōan Tradition Steven Heine, 1994-01-01 This book has three major goals in critically examining the historical and philosophical relation between the writings of Dōgen and the Zen koan tradition. First, it introduces and evaluates recent Japanese scholarship concerning Dōgen's two Shōbōgenzō texts, the Japanese (Kana) collection of ninety-two fascicles on Buddhist topics and the Chinese (Mana) collection of three hundred koan cases also known as the Shōbōgenzō Sanbyakusoku. Second, it develops a new methodology for clarifying the development of the koan tradition and the relation between intellectual history and multifarious interpretations of koan cases based on postmodern literary criticism. Third, the book's emphasis on a literary critical methodology challenges the conventional reading of koans stressing the role of psychological impasse culminating in silence. |
dogen writings: A Study of Dogen Masao Abe, 1992-01-01 This work analyzes Dōgen's formative doubt concerning the notion of original awakening as the basis for his unique approach to nonduality in the doctrines of the oneness of practice and attainment, the unity of beings and Buddha-nature, the simultaneity of time and eternity, and the identity of life and death--Back cover. |
dogen writings: Dōgen’s texts Ralf Müller, George Wrisley, 2023-12-07 This book addresses the question of how to properly handle Dōgen’s texts, a core issue that became critical during the Meiji period in which the philosophical appropriation of Dōgen became apparent inside and outside of the monastery. In present day Dōgen studies, most scholarship is informed by a number of factions representing Dōgen. The chapters herein address: the Zennist (j. zenjōka) emphasising practice, the Genzōnians (j. genzōka) shifting the attention to the close reading of Dōgen’s texts, the laity movement opening up both the texts and the practice to people in modern society, and the Genzō researchers (j. genzō kenkyūka) searching for the authenticity and truth of Dōgen’s writings. The book aims to clarify the rightful place of Dōgen: in the monastery, in denominational studies, or in modern academic philosophy? It brings forth various viewpoints on Dōgen, and analyzes the relations of these viewpoints from the premodern to modern times. The collected volume appeals to students and researchers in the field while establishing hermeneutic standards of reading and proposing new, original, and critical interpretations of Dōgen’s texts. Chapter From Uji to Being-time (and Back): Translating Dōgen into Philosophy is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com. |
dogen writings: Did Dogen Go to China? Steven Heine, 2006-05-25 Dogen was the founder of Soto Zen Buddhism in Japan and one of the most notable figures in Japanese religious history. This book clarifies how and when Dogen's various works were composed and compiled in relation to the unfolding of Dogen's career. |
dogen writings: How to Raise an Ox Eihei Dogen, Francis Dojun Cook, 2011-08-23 The writings of Zen master Dogen are among the highest achievements not only of Japanese literature but of world literature. Dogen's writings are a near-perfect expression of truth, beautifully expressing the best of which the human race is capable. In this volume, Francis Cook presents ten selections from Dogen's masterwork, the Shobogenzo, as well as six of his own essays brilliantly illuminating the mind of this peerless master. |
dogen writings: The True Dharma Eye John Daido Loori, 2009-08-11 A collection of three hundred koans compiled by Eihei Dogen, the thirteenth-century founder of Soto Zen in Japan, this book presents readers with a uniquely contemporary perspective on his profound teachings and their relevance for modern Western practitioners of Zen. Following the traditional format for koan collections, John Daido Loori Roshi, an American Zen master, has added his own commentary and accompanying verse for each of Dogen’s koans. Zen students and scholars will find The True Dharma Eye to be a source of deep insight into the mind of one of the world’s greatest religious thinkers, as well as the practice of koan study itself. |
dogen writings: Dogen's Extensive Record Eihei Dogen, 2010-03-16 Eihei Dogen, the 13th-century Zen master who founded the Japanese Soto School of Zen, is renowned as one of the world's most remarkable religious thinkers. As Shakespeare did with English, Dogen utterly transformed the language of Zen, using it in novel and extraordinarily beautiful ways to point to everything important in religious life. Dogen's Extensive Record is the first-ever complete and scholarly translation of this monumental work into English. This edition contains extensive and detailed research and annotation by scholar, translator, and Zen teacher Taigen Dan Leighton, as well as forewords by the 18th-century poet-monk Ryokan and Tenshin Reb Anderson, former abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center -- plus introductory essays from Dogen scholar Steven Heine and the prominent American Zen master John Daido Loori. |
dogen writings: Master Dogen's Shobogenzo Chodo Cross, Gudo Nishijima, 2006-05-10 This translation, supported by the Japan Foundation, makes a strong claim to be the definitive translation of the 95 chapter edition of Shobogenzo, the essential Japanese Buddhist text, written in the 13th century by Zen Master Dogen. Following Shobogenzo Books 1 and 2, the third book in this four-volume set contains chapters 42 to 72 from the 95-chapter edition, including: Tsuki (The Moon); Kuge (Flowers in Space); Mujo Seppo (All Things and Phenomena Preach Dharma); Kajo (Daily Life); and Zanmai-O-Zanmai (Samadhi, King of Samadhis). Book 3 maintains the highest standards of translation, with a clear style that rigorously follows the original words of Master Dogen. 'The first Patriarch, the Venerable Bodhidharma, after arriving from the west, passed nine years facing the wall at Shorin-ji temple on Shoshitsu-ho peak in the Sugaku mountains, sitting in Zazen in the lotus posture. From that time through to today, brains and eyes have pervaded China. The lifeblood of the first Patriarch is only the practice of sitting in the full lotus posture.' |
dogen writings: Dogen Steven Heine, 2012-02-29 This collection of essays explore the life and thought of Zen Master Dōgen (1200-1253), the founder of the Japanese Soto sect. Through both textual and historical analysis, the volume shows Dōgen in context of the Chinese Chan tradition that influenced him and demonstrates the tremendous, lasting impact he had on Buddhist thought and culture in Japan. Special attention is given to the Shobogenzo and several of its fascicles, which express Dōgen's views on such practices and rituals as using supranormal powers (jinzu), reading the sutras (kankin), diligent training in zazen meditation (shikan taza), and the koan realized in everyday life (genjōkōan). It also analyzes the historical significance of this seminal figure: for instance, Dōgen's methods of appropriating or contrasting with Chan sources, as well as how Dōgen was understood and examined in later periods, including modern times. |
dogen writings: Echoes of No Thing Nico Jenkins, 2018 Echoes of No Thing seeks to understand the space between thinking which Martin Heidegger and the 13th-century Zen patriarch Eihei Dōgen explore in their writing and teachings. Heidegger most clearly attempts this in Contributions to Philosophy (of the Event) and Dōgen in his Shōbōgenzō, a collection of fascicles which he compiled in his lifetime. Both thinkers draw us towards thinking, instead of merely defining systems of thought. Both Heidegger and Dōgen imagine possibilities not apparent in the world we currently inhabit, but notably, find possible, through a refashioning of thinking as a soteriological reimagining that clears space for the presencing of an authentic experience in the space which emerges between certainties. Jenkins elucidates this soteriological reimagining through a close reading of both authors' conceptions of time and space, and by developing a practice of listening that is attuned to the echoes that resonate between the two thinkers. While Heidegger often wrote about new beginnings (as well as about gathering oneself, preparing the site, clearings, and practicing) in preparation for the evental un-concealing of truth, nowhere is this as present as in the enigmatic, difficult, and in fact beautiful, Contributions. To call a text beautiful, especially a work of philosophy, risks committing an act of disingenuity, and yet Contributions, like Jacques Derrida's Glas or Walter Benjamin's unfinished Arcades Project, rises to this acclaim through its very resistance to a system, its refusal to be easily digested, or even understood. Contributions is unfinished, partial, even at times muttered; it is the beginning of a thinking which takes place on a path and as such cannot imagine--or refuse--its final destination. It invites us to take up towards, but not to insist on, its thinking; it is a turn away from the reason and logic of a technologized world and returns philosophy--as a thinking--to a place of wonder and awe. Dōgen's Shōbogenzō, from another culture and time entirely, is also a beautiful text, for similar reasons. The Shōbogenzō, gathered first as a series of talks given by Eihei Dōgen (and later composed as written texts) details the process of understanding which leads, for Dōgen, to a position of pure seeing, or satori, and yet these talks are not simply rules for monks, nor merely imprecations and demands for a laity; rather, they open a being's thinking to the possibility of something purely other and work as a transition across worlds that also opens us to an other world. What both thinkers illustrate, as do the other thinkers drawn on in this project--most notably, those philosophers associated with the Kyoto School, who were both intimately aware of Dōgen's work, and studied, or studied with, Heidegger--is that world is not a fixed, stable entity; rather it is a fugal composition of possibility, of as yet untraversed--and at times un-traversable--spaces. Echoes of No Thing seeks to examine, within the lacunal eddies of be-coming's arrival, that space between which both thinkers point towards as possible sites of new beginnings. |
dogen writings: Shobogenzo The True Dharma-Eye Treasury III 道元, 2007 Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-eye Treasury (Taisho No. 2582) is the masterwork of the thirteenth-century Zen master Eihei Dogen, founder of the Soto sect of Japanese Zen Buddhism. This reprint edition presents Volume 3 of the exemplary translation by Gudo Wafu Nishijima and Chodo Cross of the complete ninety-five-chapter edition of the Shobogenzo, compiled by the Zen master Hangyo Kozen in the late seventeenth century. |
dogen writings: Dōgen and Sōtō Zen Steven Heine, 2015 This follow up to Dogen: Textual and Historical Studies (OUP 2012) explores diverse aspects of the life and teachings of Zen master Dogen, the founder of the Soto Zen sect (Sotoshu) in early Kamakura-era Japan. |
dogen writings: Dogen's Life and Death Eido Shimano Roshi, 2020-07-05 This is a teisho, or talk, given by Eido Shimano Roshi at Shogen-ji Junior College in Japan on Dogen's chapter Life and Death from the Shobogenjo. It was the last talk he gave before he passed away. |
dogen writings: Being-Time Shinshu Roberts, 2018-03-20 A tour-de-force guide to Zen Master Dogen’s most subtle and sophisticated philosophical premises: that being and time are inseparable. “Impermanence is time itself, being itself—yet time and being are not at all as we imagine them to be. To really understand and fully embrace this point is to live in a radically different world—a world of awakening, inclusion, and love. Zen Master Dogen frames the teaching on impermanence explicitly as a teaching about time—and all of Dogen’s profoundly poetic teachings flow from his seminal understanding of time, as expressed in Uji (Being-Time), the famous—and famously difficult—essay in his masterwork, Shobogenzo. In Uji, Dogen teaches that time itself, being itself, is luminous awakening. It is all-inclusive, all-elusive, ultimately healing, and eternal. In this book, Shinshu Roberts does full justice, as does no other book I know of, to Dogen’s words. She offers interpretation of Uji only after careful consideration and marshaling of many sources—and offers simple everyday examples to illustrate points that seem at first abstruse. If this text causes you to doubt your most cherished concepts about your life, it will have done its work.” —from the Foreword by Norman Fischer Being-Time thoroughly explores Dogen’s teaching on how we practice as Buddhas by understanding the relationship between being and time as it is—and as we perceive it to be. Using Dogen’s Shobogenzo Uji (The True Dharma Eye, Being-Time), Shinshu Roberts offers a twofold analysis of this teaching: the meaning of the text and practice with the text, giving examples how we apply Dogen’s complex teaching to our daily lives. |
dogen writings: Zen Master Dōgen Yūhō Yokoi, Daizen Victoria, 1976 |
dogen writings: Impermanence Is Buddha-Nature Joan Stambaugh, 1990-06-01 D?gen Zenji was a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher born in Ky?to, and the founder of the S?t? school of Zen in Japan after travelling to China and training under the Chinese Caodong lineage there. D?gen is known for his extensive writing including the Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma or Sh?b?genz?, a collection of ninety-five fascicles concerning Buddhist practice and enlightenment. The primary concept underlying D?gen's Zen practice is oneness of practice-enlightenment. In fact, this concept is considered so fundamental to D?gen's variety of Zen-and, consequently, to the S?t? school as a whole-that it formed the basis for the work Shush?-gi, which was compiled in 1890 by Takiya Takush? of Eihei-ji and Azegami Baisen of S?ji-ji as an introductory and prescriptive abstract of D?gen's massive work, the Sh?b?genz? (Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma). Dogen is a profoundly original and difficult 13th century Buddhist thinker whose works have begun attracting increasing attention in the West. Admittedly difficult for even the most advanced and sophisticated scholar of Eastern thought, he is bound, initially, to present an almost insurmountable barrier to the Western mind. Yet the task of penetrating that barrier must be undertaken and, in fact, is being carried out by many gifted scholars toiling in the Dogen vineyard. |
dogen writings: The Best Buddhist Writing 2009 Melvin McLeod, 2009 A treasury of the most notable, profound, and thought-provoking Buddhism-inspired writing published in the last year. The Best Buddhist Writing 2009 includes: * An interview with novelist Tom Robbins * Guiding principles for a new ecospirituality from Thich Nhat Hanh * Jack Kornfield on basic human goodness * Pico Iyer's portrait of the Dalai Lama * Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle on a couple's journey through Alzheimer's disease * The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche on the true, enlightened nature of mind * Wendy Johnson on bringing the beginner's mind to gardening * A mindfulness practice from Pema Ch�dr�n to help us wake up to the world around us * Joan Halifax on approaching death with fearlessness and compassion * Peggy Rowe-Ward and Larry Ward with stories, meditations, and exercises for experiencing love in a new and deeper way * Natalie Goldberg on the art of writing personal memoir * Dzigar Kongtr�l on our search for happiness * Sharon Salzberg on overcoming passion, aggression, and ignorance in our relationships * Stephanie Kaza on making environmentalism a spiritual path, not just a change in lifestyle * Meshuga-wisdom from Rabbi Rami Shapiro * John Welwood on how we can use our relationships for profound spiritual growth * And much more |
dogen writings: Li Bo Unkempt Kidder Smith, Mike Zhai, 2021 |
dogen writings: Don't Be a Jerk Brad Warner, 2016-02-15 The Shōbōgenzō (The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye) is a revered eight-hundred-year-old Zen Buddhism classic written by the Japanese monk Eihei Dōgen. Despite the timeless wisdom of his teachings, many consider the book difficult to understand and daunting to read. In Don’t Be a Jerk, Zen priest and bestselling author Brad Warner, through accessible paraphrasing and incisive commentary, applies Dōgen’s teachings to modern times. While entertaining and sometimes irreverent, Warner is also an astute scholar who sees in Dōgen very modern psychological concepts, as well as insights on such topics as feminism and reincarnation. Warner even shows that Dōgen offered a “Middle Way” in the currently raging debate between science and religion. For curious readers worried that Dōgen’s teachings are too philosophically opaque, Don’t Be a Jerk is hilarious, understandable, and wise. |
dogen writings: Enlightenment Unfolds Dōgen, 1999 Eihei Dogen (1200-1253) is unquestionably one of the most significant religious figures in Japanese history. The founder of the Soto school of Zen, he was a prolific writer whose works have instructed and inspired for more than seven hundred years, and who used everything from poetry to the mundane details of everyday life in a monastery to illuminate Zen teaching. Enlightenment Unfolds contains works written by Dogen throughout his life, presented in chronological order, beginning with the journal from his study in China, providing a substantial selection from his masterwork, Treasury of the True Dharma Eye, and concluding with his spare but eloquent death poem. A number of the selections appear here in English for the first time. |
dogen writings: Having Once Paused Ikkyū, 2015-06-02 A volume of selected poems by Zen Master Ikkyu Sojun (1394–1481), translated into English |
dogen writings: Dogen's Pure Standards for the Zen Community D?gen, 1996-01-01 Presents a complete, annotated translation of Dogen's writing on Zen monasticism and the spirit of community practice. Dogen (1200-1253) is Japan's greatest Zen master. |
dogen writings: Dogen's Genjo Koan Eihei Dogen, 2011-08-01 Discover Dogen’s classic Buddhist text in 3 engaging new translations, with commentary by contemporary Zen masters like Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind author Shunryu Suzuki. Dogen’s Treasury of the True Dharma Eye is considered one of the highest manifestations of Buddhist thought ever produced. One of the greatest religious practitioners and philosophers of the East, Eihei Dogen Zenji (1200–1253) is today thought of as the founder of the Soto school of Zen. A deep thinker and writer, he was deeply involved in monastic methods and in integrating Zen realization into daily life. At times, The Shobogenzo—also called Treausry of the True Dharma Eye—was profoundly difficult, and he worked on it over his entire life, revising, expanding, and producing a book that is today thought to be one of the highest manifestations of Buddhist thought ever produced. Dogen’s Genjo Koan is the first chapter in that book, and for many followers it might be thought to contain the gist of Dogen’s work—it is one of the groundwork texts of Zen Buddhism, standing easily alongside The Diamond Sutra, The Heart Sutra, and a small handful of others. Our unique edition of Dogen’s Genjo Koan contains 3 separate translations and several commentaries by a wide variety of Zen masters. Nishiari Bokusan, Shohaku Okamura, Shunryu Suzuki, Kosho Uchiyama. Sojun Mel Weitsman, Kazuaki Tanahashi, and Dairyu Michael Wenger all have contributed to our presentation of this remarkable work. There can be no doubt that understanding and integrating this text will have a profound effect on anyone’s life and practice. |
dogen writings: Dogen and Soto Zen Steven Heine, 2015-02-26 Dogen and Soto Zen builds upon and further refines a continuing wave of enthusiastic popular interest and scholarly developments in Western appropriations of Zen. In the last few decades, research in English and European languages on Dogen and Soto Zen has grown, aided by an increasing awareness on both sides of the Pacific of the important influence of the religious movement and its founder. The school has flourished throughout the medieval and early modern periods of Japanese history, and it is still spreading and reshaping itself in the current age of globalization. This volume continues the work of Steven Heine's recently published collection, Dogen: Textual and Historical Studies, featuring some of the same outstanding authors as well as some new experts who explore diverse aspects of the life and teachings of Zen master Dogen (1200-1253), the founder of the Soto Zen sect (or Sotoshu) in early Kamakura-era Japan. The contributors examine the ritual and institutional history of the Soto school, including the role of the Eiheji monastery established by Dogen as well as rites and precepts performed there and at other temples. |
dogen writings: Dogen's Formative Years Takashi James Kodera, 2013-10-16 Originally published in 1980. Dogen was the founder of the Soto School of Zen and one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Japanese Buddhism. When originally published, this historical and textual study was the first to examine in detail the line of continuity between Dogen and his Chinese predecessors, through his Chinese master, Ju-ching. |
dogen writings: Eihei Dogen: Mystical Realist Hee-Jin Kim, 2012-06-25 Eihei Dogen, the founder of the Japanese branch of the Soto Zen Buddhist school, is considered one of the world's most remarkable religious philosophers. Eihei Dogen: Mystical Realist is a comprehensive introduction to the genius of this brilliant thinker. This thirteenth-century figure has much to teach us all and the questions that drove him have always been at the heart of Buddhist practice. At the age of seven, in 1207, Dogen lost his mother, who at her death earnestly asked him to become a monastic to seek the truth of Buddhism. We are told that in the midst of profound grief, Dogen experienced the impermanence of all things as he watched the incense smoke ascending at his mother's funeral service. This left an indelible impression upon the young Dogen; later, he would emphasize time and again the intimate relationship between the desire for enlightenment and the awareness of impermanence. His way of life would not be a sentimental flight from, but a compassionate understanding of, the intolerable reality of existence. At age 13, Dogen received ordination at Mt. Hiei. And yet, a question arose: As I study both the exoteric and the esoteric schools of Buddhism, they maintain that human beings are endowed with Dharma-nature by birth. If this is the case, why did the buddhas of all ages - undoubtedly in possession of enlightenment - find it necessary to seek enlightenment and engage in spiritual practice? When it became clear that no one on Mt. Hiei could give a satisfactory answer to this spiritual problem, he sought elsewhere, eventually making the treacherous journey to China. This was the true beginning of a life of relentless questioning, practice, and teaching - an immensely inspiring contribution to the Buddhadharma. As you might imagine, a book as ambitious as Eihei Dogen: Mystical Realist has to be both academically rigorous and eminently readable to succeed. Professor Hee-Jim Kim's work is indeed both. |
dogen writings: Mystics William Harmless, 2008 In Mystics, William Harmless, S.J., introduces readers to the scholarly study of mysticism. He explores both mystics' extraordinary lives and their no-less-extraordinary writings using a unique case-study method centered on detailed examinations of six major Christian mystics: Thomas Merton, Bernard of Clairvaux, Hildegard of Bingen, Bonaventure, Meister Eckhart, and Evagrius Ponticus. Rather than presenting mysticism as a subtle web of psychological or theological abstractions, Harless's case-study approach brings things down to earth, restoring mystics to their historical context. |
dogen writings: The Mountains and Waters Sutra Shohaku Okumura, 2018-05-28 An indispensable map of a classic Zen text. “Mountains and waters are the expression of old buddhas.” So begins “Sansuikyo,” or “Mountains and Waters Sutra,” a masterpiece of poetry and insight from Eihei Dogen, the thirteenth-century founder of the Soto school of Zen. Shohaku Okumura—renowned for his translations of and magisterial teachings on Dogen—guides the reader through the rich layers of metaphor and meaning in “Sansuikyo,” which is often thought to be the most beautiful essay in Dogen’s monumental Shobogenzo. His wise and friendly voice shows us the questions Dogen poses and helps us realize what the answers could be. What does it mean for mountains to walk? How are mountains an expression of Buddha’s truth, and how can we learn to hear the deep teachings of river waters? Throughout this luminous volume, we learn how we can live in harmony with nature in respect and gratitude—and awaken to our true nature. |
dogen writings: Dogen's Manuals of Zen Meditation Carl Bielefeldt, 1990-08-16 Zen Buddhism is perhaps best known for its emphasis on meditation, and probably no figure in the history of Zen is more closely associated with meditation practice than the thirteenth-century Japanese master Dogen, founder of the Soto school. This study examines the historical and religious character of the practice as it is described in Dogen's own meditation texts, introducing new materials and original perspectives on one of the most influential spiritual traditions of East Asian civilization. The Soto version of Zen meditation is known as just sitting, a practice in which, through the cultivation of the subtle state of nonthinking, the meditator is said to be brought into perfect accord with the higher consciousness of the Buddha mind inherent in all beings. This study examines the historical and religious character of the practice as it is described in Dogen's own meditation texts, introducing new materials and original perspectives on one of the most influential spiritual traditions of East Asian civilization. |
dogen writings: Readings of Dōgen's "Treasury of the True Dharma Eye" Steven Heine, 2020-05-12 The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye (Shōbōgenzō) is the masterwork of Dōgen (1200–1253), founder of the Sōtō Zen Buddhist sect in Kamakura-era Japan. It is one of the most important Zen Buddhist collections, composed during a period of remarkable religious diversity and experimentation. The text is complex and compelling, famed for its eloquent yet perplexing manner of expressing the core precepts of Zen teachings and practice. This book is a comprehensive introduction to this essential Zen text, offering a textual, historical, literary, and philosophical examination of Dōgen’s treatise. Steven Heine explores the religious and cultural context in which the Treasury was composed and provides a detailed study of the various versions of the medieval text that have been compiled over the centuries. He includes nuanced readings of Dōgen’s use of inventive rhetorical flourishes and the range of East Asian Buddhist textual and cultural influences that shaped the work. Heine explicates the philosophical implications of Dōgen’s views on contemplative experience and attaining and sustaining enlightenment, showing the depth of his distinctive understanding of spiritual awakening. Readings of Dōgen’s Treasury of the True Dharma Eye will give students and other readers a full understanding of this fundamental work of world religious literature. |
Dōgen - Wikipedia
Dōgen Zenji (道元禅師, Japanese pronunciation: [doꜜː.ɡeɴ,-ŋeɴ], [1] 26 January 1200 – 22 September 1253 [2] [3]) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist monk, writer, poet, philosopher, and …
Dōgen | Zen Master, Soto School, Philosopher | Britannica
Dōgen was a leading Japanese Buddhist during the Kamakura period (1192–1333), who introduced Zen to Japan in the form of the Sōtō school (Chinese: Ts’ao-tung). A creative …
Dogen - New World Encyclopedia
Dōgen (also Dōgen Zenji 道元禅師; Dōgen Kigen 道元希玄, or Eihei Dōgen 永平道元) (January 19, 1200 - September 22, 1253) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher, philosopher, and …
Dogen - Encyclopedia.com
Dōgen (1200–1253), an early Japanese Zen figure, is regarded as the founder of the Japanese Sōtō school of Chan Buddhism (Japanese, Zen). Born to an aristocratic family, Dōgen entered …
Dogen | Lion’s Roar
Eihei Dogen (1200–1253) was the founder of the Soto school of Zen. He is referred to by a variety of names, including Dōgen Zenji, Dōgen Kigen, Kōso Jōyō Daishi, or Busshō Dentō Kokushi. …
Dōgen: His Life, Religion, and Poetry - Association for Asian Studies
Dōgen transmitted the teachings he learned during a four-year visit from 1223 to 1227 to China, where he attained enlightenment while training in Zen meditation under the tutelage of mentor …
Dogen Zenji Books | Zen Master Dogen Buddhism Teachings
Uncover the wisdom of Zen Master Dogen with insights into his life and teachings. Explore writings that continue to shape and inspire Zen practice today.
Dogen Zenji - Buddhism Guide
Dōgen Zenji (道元禅師; January 19, 1200 – September 22, 1253) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher and founder of the Soto school of Zen in Japan. He was a leading religious figure and …
Dogen Studies – Everyday Zen Foundation
Suzuki Roshi’s way is sometimes called “Dōgen Zen.” Dōgen is unusual among Asian Zen masters for two reasons: first, he wrote and was interested in writing and language; and …
Dogen: Philosophy & Zen Buddhism | Vaia
Dogen Zenji: A pivotal figure in Zen Buddhism, known for his teachings and unique philosophical perspectives. Dogen's Philosophy : Rooted in 13th-century Japanese and Chinese Buddhist …
Dōgen - Wikipedia
Dōgen Zenji (道元禅師, Japanese pronunciation: [doꜜː.ɡeɴ,-ŋeɴ], [1] 26 January 1200 – 22 September 1253 [2] [3]) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist monk, writer, poet, philosopher, and …
Dōgen | Zen Master, Soto School, Philosopher | Britannica
Dōgen was a leading Japanese Buddhist during the Kamakura period (1192–1333), who introduced Zen to Japan in the form of the Sōtō school (Chinese: Ts’ao-tung). A creative …
Dogen - New World Encyclopedia
Dōgen (also Dōgen Zenji 道元禅師; Dōgen Kigen 道元希玄, or Eihei Dōgen 永平道元) (January 19, 1200 - September 22, 1253) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher, philosopher, and …
Dogen - Encyclopedia.com
Dōgen (1200–1253), an early Japanese Zen figure, is regarded as the founder of the Japanese Sōtō school of Chan Buddhism (Japanese, Zen). Born to an aristocratic family, Dōgen entered …
Dogen | Lion’s Roar
Eihei Dogen (1200–1253) was the founder of the Soto school of Zen. He is referred to by a variety of names, including Dōgen Zenji, Dōgen Kigen, Kōso Jōyō Daishi, or Busshō Dentō Kokushi. …
Dōgen: His Life, Religion, and Poetry - Association for Asian Studies
Dōgen transmitted the teachings he learned during a four-year visit from 1223 to 1227 to China, where he attained enlightenment while training in Zen meditation under the tutelage of mentor …
Dogen Zenji Books | Zen Master Dogen Buddhism Teachings
Uncover the wisdom of Zen Master Dogen with insights into his life and teachings. Explore writings that continue to shape and inspire Zen practice today.
Dogen Zenji - Buddhism Guide
Dōgen Zenji (道元禅師; January 19, 1200 – September 22, 1253) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher and founder of the Soto school of Zen in Japan. He was a leading religious figure and …
Dogen Studies – Everyday Zen Foundation
Suzuki Roshi’s way is sometimes called “Dōgen Zen.” Dōgen is unusual among Asian Zen masters for two reasons: first, he wrote and was interested in writing and language; and …
Dogen: Philosophy & Zen Buddhism | Vaia
Dogen Zenji: A pivotal figure in Zen Buddhism, known for his teachings and unique philosophical perspectives. Dogen's Philosophy : Rooted in 13th-century Japanese and Chinese Buddhist …