Introduction

The study of Dogen (1200–53), apart from sectarian preoccupation, has its beginning in 1919–21 when the philosopher Watsuji Tetsurō wrote a series of articles on him for two journals, Shin shōsetsu and Shisō. ¹ The magnitude of Watsuji Tetsurō’s contribution has been widely acclaimed, even though his study has been called into question because his principal source was not Dogen’s own writings, but Shōbōgenzō zuimonki, a collection of Dogen’s teachings by his closest disciple, Ejō, which Watsuji later edited. ² By treating Dogen as a person (hito) rather than as the founder of a school (shūso), Watsuji extracted him from the seven-century-long monopoly of the Sōtō School of Zen and from their decidedly sectarian interests, and awakened the Japanese both inside and outside the School to the discovery of a major personage in Japanese Buddhism. Watsuji’s work has since served as the impetus for a new phase of research on Dogen by numerous Japanese scholars, many of whom have compared Dogen to Western philosophers in terms of thought, ³ while the apologists have continued their defense. ⁴