Roshi Dōgen* was a controversial and highly influential Buddhist teacher, philosopher, and the founder of Soto Zen in Japan, a school that is also one of the m0st widely practiced forms of Zen in America.
As a young monk he grew dissatisfied with the ritualism and academic forms of Buddhism then prevalent in Japan. He went to China seeking a new teacher, ultimately returning to Japan in 1228 where he founded a new form of Buddhist praxis that emphasised meditation not as a vehicle leading to enlightenment, but rather that meditation is itself enlightenment.
This radical teaching garnered both rapid growth for this new school, as well as violent opposition from other Buddhists, schools that enjoyed a comfortable relationship with the harsh feudal political structures of 13th Century Japanese society. Dōgen was the author of a number of influential texts, books that are as fresh and effective today as when they were written. Here's a passage from one of two books he wrote titled titled Shōbōgenzō - or in English, True Dharma Eye Treasury, a compilation of some 300 brief Zen teachings called Koans. The title itself was considered provocative, because it implies that the Buddha's teaching (the Dharma) are not bound to the tradition's Sutra's - formal teachings, many of which are attributed to the Buddha himself, but instead can be experienced in these jewel-like koans. Among the central teachings of Zen is sudden enlightenment, that it is not easily realised through the study of the sutras, but more often directly in meditation or even from mind to mind through interactions with a Roshi, or even a monastery cook (as happened to Dōgen in China). The translation is by Kazuaki Tanahashi.
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Zhaozhou asked Nanquan, “What is the Way?”
Nanquan said, “Ordinary mind is the Way.
Zhaozhou said, “Shall I try to direct myself toward it?”
Nanquan said, “If you try to direct yourself toward it, you will move away from it.”
Zhaozhou said, “If I don’t try, how will I know it’s the Way?”
Nanquan said, “The Way is not concerned with knowing or not knowing. Knowing is illusion; not knowing is blank consciousness. If you truly arrive at the Great Way of no trying, it will be like great emptiness, vast and clear. How can we speak of it in terms of affirming or negating?”
Zhaozhou immediately realized the profound teaching.**
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The themes of this koan are familiar to any student of Buddhism: the Way of the Buddha, the role of the mind in entering or barring the Way, the realisation that enlightenment cannot be learned, but is always present, always available, pervading every experience, perception and thought, yet hidden by the deceptive nature of experience, perception and thought. The way of the Buddha is not the achievement of supernatural beings or even extraordinary efforts, but instead is known when we both embrace and release the ordinary, or everyday mind.
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* Roshi is an honorific meaning teacher, and its use indicates that Dōgen received the
Inka from his Roshi, testifying to his enlightenment and strength as a teacher, and
becoming part of an unbroken line of succession, tracing back to the Buddhist patriarchs
who established Buddhism after the death of Gautama, the historical Buddha.
** the term "realized" here means more than intellectual understanding. Rather, it implies
that Zhaozhou was, at some level, transformed or enlightened by this teaching.
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