Biography
Early life
Dōgen was probably born into a noble family, though as an illegitimate child of Minamoto Michitomo, who served in the imperial court 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 Hiei, the headquarters of theTravel to China
In 1223, Dōgen and Myōzen undertook the dangerous passage across the East China Sea to China (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 ''Fukanzazengi'' (普観坐禅儀; ''Universally Recommended Instructions for Zazen''), a short text emphasizing the importance of and giving instructions for '' zazen'' (sittingEihei-ji
Eihei-ji Temple 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 the growing competition of the Rinzai-school. His followers built a comprehensive center of practice there, calling it Daibutsu Temple (Daibutsu-ji, 大仏寺). While the construction work was going on, Dōgen would live and teach at Yoshimine-dera Temple (Kippō-ji, 吉峯寺), which is located close to Daibutsu-ji. During his stay at Kippō-ji, Dōgen "fell into a depression". It marked a turning point in his life, giving way to "rigorous critique of Rinzai Zen". He criticizedDeath
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:Miraculous events and auspicious signs
Several "miraculous experiences" and "auspicious signs" have been recorded in Dōgen's life, some of them quite famous. According to Bodiford, "Monks and laymen recorded these events as testaments to his great mystical power," which "helped confirm the legacy of Dōgen's teachings against competing claims made by members of the Buddhist establishment and other outcast groups." Bodiford further notes that the "magical events at Eiheiji helped identify the temple as a cultic center," putting it at a par with other temples where supernatural events occurred. According to Faure, for Dōgen these auspicious signs were proof that "Eiheiji was the only place in Japan where the Buddhist Dharma was transmitted correctly and that this monastery was thus rivaled by no other." In Menzan Zuihō's well-known 1753 edition of Dōgen's biography, it records that while traveling in China with his companion Dōshō, Dōgen became very ill, and a deity appeared before him who gave him medicine which instantly healed him: This medicine, which later became known as Gedokuen or "Poison-Dispelling Pill" was then produced by the Sōtō church until the Meiji Era, and was commonly sold nationwide as an herbal medicine, and became a source of income for the Sōtō church. Another famous incident happened when he was returning to Japan from China. The ship he was on was caught in a storm. In this instance, the storm became so severe, that the crew feared the ship would sink and kill them all. Dōgen then began leading the crew in recitation of chants to Kannon (Avalokiteshwara), during which, the Bodhisattva appeared before him, and several of the crew saw her as well. After the vision appeared, the storm began to calm down, and consensus of those aboard was that they had been saved due to the intervention of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshwara. This story is repeated in official works sponsored by the Sōtō Shū Head Office and there is even a sculpture of the event in a water treatment pond in Eihei-ji Temple. Additionally, there is a 14th-century copy of a painting of the same Kannon, that was supposedly commissioned by Dōgen, that includes a piece of calligraphy that is possibly an original in Dōgen's own hand, recording his gratitude to Avalokiteshwara: Another miraculous event occurred, while Dōgen was at Eihei-ji. During a ceremony of gratitude for the 16 Celestial Arahants (called Rakan in Japanese), a vision of 16 Arahants appeared before Dōgen descending upon a multi-colored cloud, and the statues of the Arahants that were present at the event began to emanate rays of light, to which Dōgen then exclaimed: Dōgen was profoundly moved by the entire experience, and took it as an auspicious sign that the offerings of the ceremony had been accepted. In his writings he wrote: Dōgen is also recorded to have had multiple encounters with non-human beings. Aside from his encounter with the kami Inari in China, in the Denkōrou it is recorded that while at Kōshō-ji, he was also visited by a deva who came to observe during certain ceremonies, as well as a dragon who visited him at Eihei-Ji and requested to be given the eight abstinence Precepts:Teachings
Zazen
Dōgen often stressed the critical importance of zazen, or sitting meditation as the central practice of Buddhism. He considered zazen to be identical to studying Zen. This 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". Dōgen taught zazen to everyone, even for the laity, male or female and including all social classes. In referring to zazen, Dōgen is most often referring specifically to '' shikantaza'', roughly translatable as "nothing but precisely sitting", or "just 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". In his ''Fukan Zazengi'', Dōgen wrote: Dōgen called this zazen practice "without thinking" (''hi-shiryo'') in which one is simply aware of things as they are, beyond thinking and not-thinking - the active effort not to think. The correct mental attitude for zazen according to Dōgen is one of effortless non-striving, this is because for Dōgen, enlightenment is already always present. Further, Dōgen frequently distanced himself from more syncretic Buddhist practices at the time, including those of his contemporary Eisai. In the Bendowa, Dōgen writes:Oneness of practice-verification
The primary concept underlying Dōgen's Zen practice is "the oneness of practice-verification" or "the unity of cultivation and confirmation" (修證一如 ''shushō-ittō'' / ''shushō-ichinyo'').Carl Bielefeldt. ''Dogen's Manuals of Zen Meditation'', p. 137, University of California Press, 1990. The term ''shō'' (證, verification, affirmation, confirmation, attainment) is also sometimes translated as "If you grasp the point of this ractice the four elements f the bodywill become light and at ease, the spirit will be fresh and sharp, thoughts will be correct and clear; the flavor of the dharma will sustain the spirit, and you will be calm, pure, and joyful. Your daily life will be he expression ofyour true natural state. Once you achieve clarificationf the truth F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''. Hist ...you may be likened to the dragon gaining the water or the tiger taking to the mountains. You should realize that when right thought is present, dullness and agitation cannot intrude.
Buddha-nature
For Dōgen,Therefore, the very impermanency of grass and tree, thicket and forest is the Buddha nature. The very impermanency of men and things, body and mind, is the Buddha nature. Nature and lands, mountains and rivers, are impermanent because they are the Buddha nature. Supreme and complete enlightenment, because it is impermanent, is the Buddha nature.Takashi James Kodera writes that the main source of Dōgen's understanding of buddha-nature is a passage from the '' Nirvana sutra'' which was widely understood as stating that all sentient beings posses buddha-nature. However, Dōgen interpreted the passage differently, rendering it as follows:
All are (一 切) sentient beings, (衆生) all things are (悉有) the Buddha-nature (佛性); the Tathagata (如来) abides constantly (常住), is non-existent (無) yet existent (有), and is change (變易).Takashi explains that "whereas in the conventional reading the Buddha-nature is understood as a permanent essence inherent in all sentient beings, Dōgen contends that all things are the Buddha-nature. In the former reading, the Buddha-nature is a change less potential, but in the latter, it is the eternally arising and perishing actuality of all things in the world." Thus for Dōgen buddha-nature includes everything, the totality of "all things", including inanimate objects like grass, trees and land (which are also "mind" for Dōgen).
Time-Being
Dōgen's conception of Being-Time or Time-Being ('' Uji'', 有時) is an essential element of his metaphysics in the ''Shōbōgenzō''. According to the traditional interpretation, "''Uji''" here means time itself is being, and all being is time." ''Uji'' is all the changing and dynamic activities that exist as the flow of becoming, all beings in the entire world are time. The two terms are thus spoken of concurrently to emphasize that the things are not to be viewed as separate concepts. Moreover, the aim is to not abstract time and being as rational concepts. This view has been developed by scholars such asPerfect expression
Another essential element of Dōgen's 'performative' metaphysics is his conception of Perfect expression (''Dōtoku'', 道得). "While a radically critical view on language as soteriologically inefficient, if not positively harmful, is what Zen Buddhism is famous for,"Döll (2015), p. 637 it can be argued "'within the framework of a rational theory of language, against an obscurantist interpretation of Zen that time and again invokes experience.'" Dōgen distinguishes two types of language: monji 文字, the first, – after Ernst Cassirer – "discursive type that constantly structures our experiences and—more fundamentally—in fact produces the world we experience in the first place"; and dōtoku 道得, the second, "presentative type, which takes a holistic stance and establishes the totality of significations through a texture of relations.". As Döll points out, "It is this second type, as Müller holds, that allows for a positive view of language even from the radically skeptical perspective of Dōgen’s brand of Zen Buddhism."Critique of Rinzai
Dōgen was sometimes critical of the Rinzai school for their formulaic and intellectual koan practice (such as the practice of the ''Shiryoken'' or "Four Discernments")Dumoulin 65 as well as for their disregard for the sutras:Recently in the great Sung dynasty of China there are many who call themselves "Zen masters". They do not know the length and breadth of the Buddha-Dharma. They have heard and seen but little. They memorize two or three sayings of Lin Chi andDōgen was also very critical of the Japanese Daruma school of Dainichi Nōnin.Yun Men Yunmen Wenyan (; romaji: ''Ummon Bun'en''; 862 or 864 – 949 CE), was a major Chinese Chan master of the Tang dynasty. He was a dharma-heir of Xuefeng Yicunbr>} Yunmen founded the Yunmen school, one of the five major schools of Chán (Chinese ...and think this is the whole way of the Buddha-Dharma. If the Dharma of the Buddha could be condensed in two or three sayings of Lin Chi and Yun Men, it would not have been transmitted to the present day. One can hardly say that Lin Chi and Yun Men are the Venerable ones of the Buddha-Dharma.
Virtues
Dogen's perspective of virtue is discussed in the ''Shōbōgenzō'' text as something to be practiced inwardly so that it will manifest itself on the outside. In other words, virtue is something that is both internal and external in the sense that one can practice internal good dispositions and also the expression of these good dispositions.Writings
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 scholarShōbōgenzō
Dōgen's masterpiece is the '' Shōbōgenzō'' (正法眼蔵, "Treasury of the True Dharma Eye"), talks and writings collected together in ninety-five fascicles. The topics range from zazen, koans, Buddhist philosophy, monastic practice, the equality of women and men, to the philosophy of language, being, and time.Shushō-gi
The '' Shōbōgenzō'' served as the basis for the short work entitled ''Shushō-gi'' (修證儀), which was compiled in 1890 by a layman named Ouchi Seiran (1845-1918) along with Takiya Takushū (滝谷卓洲) of Eihei-ji and Azegami Baisen (畔上楳仙) of Sōji-ji. The compilation serves as an introductory compilation of key extracts from the '' Shōbōgenzō'' which help explain the foundational teachings and concepts of Dōgen Zen to a lay audience.Shinji Shōbōgenzō
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".Collections of dharma discourses
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 Rinnō-ji text from 1598, a popular version printed in 1672, and a version discovered at Eihei-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.Other writings
Other notable writings of Dōgen are: * '' Fukanzazengi'' (普勧坐禅儀, General Advice on the Principles of Zazen), one volume; probably written immediately after Dōgen's return from China in 1227. * '' Bendōwa'' (弁道話, "On the Endeavor of the Way"), written in 1231. This represents one of Dōgen's earliest writings and asserts the superiority of the practice of shikantaza through a series of questions and answers. * ''Eihei shoso gakudō-yōjinshū'' (Advice on Studying the Way), one volume; probably written in 1234. * '' Tenzo kyōkun'' (Instructions to the Chief Cook), one volume; written in 1237. * ''Bendōhō'' (Rules for the Practice of the Way), one volume; written between 1244 and 1246. * 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 Nyojō, 1162–1228). The work was discovered among Dōgen's papers by Ejō in 1253, just three months after Dōgen's death.Lineage
Though Dogen emphasised the importance of the correct transmission of the Buddha dharma, as guaranteed by the line of transmission from Shakyamuni, his own transmission became problematic in the third generation. In 1267 Ejō retired as Abbot of Eihei-ji, giving way to Gikai, who was already favored by Dōgen. Gikai introduced esoteric elements into the practice. Opposition arose, and in 1272 Ejō resumed the position of abbot. Following Ejō's death in 1280, Gikai became abbot again, strengthened by the support of the military for magical practices. Opposition arose again, and Gikai was forced to leave Eihei-ji. He was succeeded by Gien, who was first trained in the Daruma-school ofSee also
*'' Zen'' - 2009 Japanese biopic about the life of DōgenNotes
References
Sources
* * * Cleary, Thomas. ''Rational Zen: The Mind of Dogen Zenji''. Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1992. . * * * * * * * Dogen. ''The Heart of Dogen's Shobogenzo''. Tr. Waddell, Norman and Abe, Masao. Albany: SUNY Press, 2002. . * * * * * * * * LaFleur, William R.; ed. ''Dogen Studies''. The Kuroda Institute, 1985. . * * Leighton, Taigen Dan; ''Visions of Awakening Space and Time: Dogen and the Lotus Sutra''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. . * Leighton, Taigen Dan; ''Zen Questions: Zazen, Dogen and the Spirit of Creative Inquiry''. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2011. . * Leighton, Taigen Dan; Okumura, Shohaku; tr. ''Dogen's Extensive Record: A Translation of the Eihei Koroku''. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2010. . * Leighton, Taigen Dan. ''Dogen's Pure Standards for the Zen Community: A Translation of Eihei Shingi''. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996. . * Masunaga, Reiho. ''A Primer of Soto Zen''. University of Hawaii: East-West Center Press, 1978. . * * * Okumura, Shohaku; Leighton, Taigen Daniel; et al.; tr. ''The Wholehearted Way: A Translation of Eihei Dogen's Bendowa with Commentary''. Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 1997. . * * * Nishijima, Gudo & Cross, Chodo; tr. 'Master Dogen's Shobogenzo' in 4 volumes. Windbell Publications, 1994. and Shōbōgenzō, Vol. 1-4, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Berkeley 2007-2008, , 978-1-886439-36-8, 978-1-886-439-37-5, 978-1-886439-38-External links