Dōgen

Dōgen (1200–1253) was a Japanese Buddhist monk who established the Sōtō school in Japan and wrote the Shōbōgenzō, a major work of Zen philosophy.

Zen: A Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition that emphasizes meditation and direct realization. Dōgen’s Japanese Sōtō school is a distinctive Zen lineage.
Shikantaza: A form of seated Zen meditation practiced without focusing on a particular object or goal. Dōgen’s account of zazen is closely associated with this practice of ‘just sitting.’
Rinzai: A Japanese Zen school associated with kōan practice and lineages tracing back to the Chinese Linji tradition. Its development in Japan provides a major point of comparison with Dōgen’s Sōtō lineage.
Koun Ejō: A Japanese Zen monk who became Dōgen’s disciple and succeeded him as leader of Eihei-ji. Ejō preserved teachings and records from Dōgen’s community.
Japanese Buddhism: The diverse Buddhist traditions that developed in Japan through adaptation, institutional change, and interaction with local culture. Dōgen’s school became one influential strand in Japan’s broader Buddhist history.
Sōtō: A Japanese school of Zen Buddhism centered on seated meditation and the teaching of Dōgen. This is the school Dōgen established in Japan.
Practice-enlightenment: The view that Buddhist practice and enlightenment are inseparable rather than practice merely causing a later result. Dōgen presents practice as the expression of awakening, not simply a route toward it.
Eisai: A Japanese Buddhist monk who helped establish Rinzai Zen in Japan after studying in China. Eisai’s earlier Zen mission provides context for Dōgen’s later work in Japan.
Keizan Jōkin: A Japanese Sōtō Zen master who helped expand the school and establish its wider institutional reach. Keizan’s later work helped carry the lineage Dōgen founded beyond its early monastic centers.
Dōgen and modern philosophy: The study of connections between Dōgen’s writings and modern philosophical questions about time, self, language, and being. His essays have attracted philosophical interpretations beyond traditional Zen scholarship.

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