Episode 220 – The All Seeing Eye

December 2, 2017

This week, we investigate the great Zen master Dogen, who was something of an eccentric in his own time but remains one of the greatest Buddhist thinkers in Japanese history.

Listen to the episode here.

Sources

Heine, Stephen. Did Dogen Go to China?

Heine, Stephen. Dogen and Soto Zen

Images

Dogen Views the Moon, a roughly contemporary painting. It is usually dated to around 1250.
Rujing, the Zen master of Tiantong Mountain who would initiate Dogen into the esoteric Caodong lineage. Some doubt the veracity of his encounter with Dogen, or even Rujing’s own existence — though this latter position is rather extreme and unusual within the scholarly community.
An 1811 edition of the Shobogenzo, Dogen’s most famous work on, well, everything.
Eiheiji, the Soto monastery founded by Dogen. It remains one of the chief Soto temples in Japan.