Contents
In the XNUMXth century, one of the great thinkers of Japan, Eihei Dogen, taught Zen meditation to his compatriots. His philosophical and poetic work continues to influence not only the life of Japan, but also the development of world Buddhism.
Dogen was born into an aristocratic family close to the emperor. Maturity came very early: first, his father died, and at the age of seven, Dogen lost his mother, forever imbued with a sense of the fragility of life … Before her death, she asked her son to become a monk in order to help save all living beings. Japanese Buddhism was in decline. Becoming a monk, the boy immediately noticed the contrast between the clear teachings of the Buddha and the complex interpretations of religious mentors, the discrepancy between the simplicity that the Buddha preached and the magnificent luxury of the monasteries.
For almost ten years, the young man searched for answers to existential questions from the leaders of various Buddhist movements in Japan, but only after going to China, he was able to discover the pristine purity of Chan – the Chinese version of Zen Buddhism, which is both simpler and more strict. And most importantly, there he discovers zazen – the sitting meditation of the Buddha, in which the meditator sits “in a state of heightened attention, which is free from thoughts, not directed at any object and not attached to any content.”
Returning to Japan, he meets the resistance of the inert clergy, writes a book on zazen and founds his own Zen school Soto … He rethinks the role of Zen meditation practice, which he identifies with the comprehension of the Way, and creates new rituals that regulate everyday life.
During his life, Dogen wrote a lot in both Chinese and Japanese: the monumental work “Sebo Genzo”, poems, philosophical tales, and even books of instructions, which can be considered the first manuals on personal growth in history …
His dates
- January 2, 1200: Born in Kyoto.
- 1213: Ordained as a monk in a monastery of the Japanese Buddhist school, Tendai.
- 1221: The monk Mezen passed on the dharma to Dogen, thereby acknowledging that he had mastered the teachings.
- 1223: Travels to China with Master Mezen to meet Buddhist teachers there.
- 1225: Dogen visits a master named Zhu-jing at Tiantong Mountain. In communion with him, Dogen experienced the liberation of the body and mind when he heard the teacher’s words: “Drop the body and mind.”
- 1227: Dogen receives dharma from the Zhu-jing and concludes that he has finally completed his lifelong search for the great wisdom; returns to Japan and writes the very first book on zazen.
- 1236: Founds Eihei, the first independent Zen monastery, and his own Zen school, Soto, still active today.
- 28 August 1253: died in Kyoto.
Read more:
- Zen serenity: how to keep it?
Keys to Understanding
Be aware of everyday experience
For Dogen, even our everyday life is a field for Zen practice. Get up, wash your face, peel your vegetables, eat… Every moment of our lives is a unique opportunity to experiment with our full consciousness and with the present moment. In his Instructions to the Zen Cook, he expounds this principle best: “When you cook food, don’t look at it with your ordinary eyes and don’t think with your ordinary mind.” In other words, you need to be fully aware of yourself and your movements, which allows you to reach the spiritual dimension of life even when you cut a carrot.
“STUDYING THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA IS STUDYING YOURSELF. TO STUDY YOURSELF IS TO FORGET YOURSELF. TO FORGET YOURSELF IS TO LET A LOT OF THINGS SHOW.
Look for simplicity
Health, material well-being, friends, a partner or life partner help us live happily and do not interfere with Awakening – provided that we “always strive for greater simplicity.” Accumulating material wealth means gratifying your ego, deceiving yourself and lying to yourself. It is necessary to learn to distinguish between desire and need, possession and good, learn to drown out your ego in order to hear yourself.
Find a way within us
Each person is a dormant Buddha. Achieving Awakening, whether we realize it or not, is the ultimate goal of each of us. And although Dogen himself wrote a lot, he insisted that the path to Enlightenment is not through books, but through oneself, through personal experience and the persistent practice of zazen meditation. For this reason, there are no sacred texts or dogmas in the teachings of Zen: the truth is hidden in ourselves. And everyone has to find it for himself…
About it
- Osho Dogen. Great Zen Master, Sofia, 2004.
- “The Path to Awakening. The main works of Zen mentor Dogen, Eurasia, 2001.
- Dogen “Selected Works”, Silver Threads, 2002.