Dōgen is read about 413 times a day, in 44 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 23 October 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 398 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?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.
A life in dates
Also in Deutsch
Photos 8
Kamakura-period statue of Thousand-armed Kannon at Sanjūsangen-dō in Kyoto, Japan.
Dōgen watching the moon. Hōkyō-ji monastery, Fukui prefecture, circa 1250.
Eihei-ji Temple
Dharma hall at Eihei-ji where various rites and recitations have been performed since Dōgen's time.
Universally Recommended Instructions for Zazen (普勧坐禅儀, fukan zazengi)
The statue memorializing Dōgen's vision of Avalokiteshvara at a pond in Eihei-ji, Japan.In their own words 10
, Zazen is the ultimate practice. This is indeed the True Self. The Buddhadharma is not to be sought outside of this.
Just practice good, do good for others, without thinking of making yourself known so that you may gain reward. Really bring benefit to others, gaining nothing for yourself.
When other sects speak well of Zen, the first thing that they praise is its poverty.
In their orbit
Father: Minamoto no MichichikaAbout this person
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.
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