ABSTRACT

Dōgen 道元 (1200–1253, also known as Eihei Dōgen 永平道元), the founder of the Sōtō Zen sect 曹洞禅宗, was one of the most influential Japanese Buddhist thinkers and commentators on kōans 公案, or enigmatic Zen encounter dialogues. He has had an enduring influence on all of East Asian Buddhist history since the thirteenth century. Dōgen’s work today is especially important in the writings of the Kyoto School and other exponents of contemporary comparative philosophy of religion as conducted in Japan and throughout the world. He lived at the beginning of the Kamakura era (1185–1333), which was marked by a dramatic transition from the dominance of the Tendai 天台 sect to the emergence of many new forms of Buddhist practice, including several sects of Zen meditation leading to enlightenment, 1 Pure Land veneration of the salvific power of Amida Buddha, and Nichiren’s 日蓮 (1222–82) celebration of the efficacy of the Lotus Sutra, among other reform movements. Dōgen played a crucial role in the establishment of Sōtō Zen as the single largest and most widespread of the new sects. This development was based on following models of training he learned while attaining enlightenment in China during a visit that lasted from 1223 to 1227, although subsequent leaders of the sect, especially Keizan Jōkin 瑩山紹瑾 (1268–1325), assimilated many elements of indigenous and hybrid popular religiosity to facilitate the tradition’s spread in the provinces outside of Kyoto, which was the primary location of the Rinzai Zen sect 臨済禅宗.