Dōgen
The founder of Japanese Sōtō Zen, who returned from China to teach that practice is not a means to enlightenment — it is enlightenment, enacted.
“To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self.”
Core ideas
- Practice and realization are one (shushō ittō)
- To study the self is to forget the self
- Time is being: each moment is complete
Historical context
Orphaned young, he crossed to Song China for authentic teaching, brought back Caodong/ Sōtō zazen, and wrote one of Buddhism's deepest philosophical works in Japanese.
Key works
Shōbōgenzō · Fukanzazengi
Questions they speak to
Minds in conversation
- The BuddhaLumbini / Ganges valley
- NagarjunaSouthern India
- ZhuangziState of Song, China
Sources
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Dōgen