# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/dogen
# Generated: 2026-08-31T15:44:58.217Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/dogen"
name: "Dōgen"
slug: "dogen"
description: "A 13th-century monk who walked away from Kyoto's establishment Buddhism, sailed to China for the real thing, and came back to plant sitting meditation at the center of Japanese Zen — then wrote the texts that still anchor Sōtō practice today."
tagline: "Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher (1200-1253)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Dogen.jpg"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "Japan"
  isoCode: "JP"
category:
  name: "Academics"
  slug: "academics"
profileType:
  name: "Academic"
  slug: "academic"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1200-01-19"
deathDate: "1253-09-29"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           58.67
  momentum:             11.85893803793235
  historical:           24.482904
  currentAttention:     35.50238521168754
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Religious Figures"
    slug: "religious-figures"
  - name: "Academic"
    slug: "academic"
  - name: "Philosophy"
    slug: "philosophy"
  - name: "Religion"
    slug: "religion"
  - name: "Japan"
    slug: "japan"
  - name: "Asia"
    slug: "asia"
  - name: "Medieval Era"
    slug: "medieval-era"
sources:
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    title: "Dōgen"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Dógen Zendži"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Dōgen"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Dōgen"
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    title: "Dōgen"
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    title: "Dōgen"
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    title: "Dōgen"
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    title: "Dōgen"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Dōgen"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "דוגן"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C5%8Dgen"
    title: "Dōgen"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Dógen"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D4%B4%D5%B8%D5%A3%D5%A5%D5%B6"
    title: "Դոգեն"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogen"
    title: "Dogen"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eihei_D%C5%8Dgen"
    title: "Eihei Dōgen"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%81%93%E5%85%83"
    title: "道元"
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    title: "도겐"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Dogens Zendži"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Dōgen"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Wikiquote"
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    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
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    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
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    title: "Wikiquote"
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    title: "Wikiquote"
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# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Dōgen Zenji was ordained in Kyoto's Tendai School but found it hollow, so in his twenties he left for China to find what he considered authentic Buddhism. He trained for four years under Tiāntóng Rújìng, a master of the Cáodòng Chan lineage, then returned to Japan and began teaching zazen — sitting meditation — through works like Fukanzazengi and Bendōwa. Tensions with Tendai forced him out of Kyoto; he moved to what is now Fukui Prefecture and founded Eihei-ji, which became one of the two head temples of the Sōtō school he established. His Shōbōgenzō, a sprawling treatise considered his masterwork, along with the Eihei Kōroku and the first Japanese Zen monastic code, became the core texts of Sōtō Zen. He died in 1253, but his writings remain the tradition's foundation.