Dōgen Zenji ( 道元禅師 ; also Dōgen Kigen 道元希玄, or Eihei Dōgen 永平道元, or Koso Joyo Daishi ) ( 19 January 1200 – 22 September 1253 ) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher born in Kyōto.

Dōgen probably was born into a noble family, though as an illegitimate child of Minamoto Michitomo, who served in the imperial court as a high-ranking.

His mother is said to have died when Dōgen was age 7.

As he found no answer to his question at Mount Hiei, and as he was disillusioned by the internal politics and need for social prominence for advancement, Dōgen left to seek an answer from other Buddhist masters.

Rujing was reputed to have a style of Chan that was different from the other masters whom Dōgen had thus far encountered.

While the construction work was going on, Dōgen would live and teach at Yoshimine-dera Temple ( Kippō-ji, 吉峯寺 ), which is located close to Daibutsu-ji.

This point was succinctly stressed by Dōgen in the Fukan Zazengi, the first text that he composed upon his return to Japan from China:

While it was customary for Buddhist works to be written in Chinese, Dōgen often wrote in Japanese, conveying the essence of his thought in a style that was at once concise, compelling, and inspiring.

The work was discovered among Dōgen ’ s papers by Ejō in 1253, just three months after Dōgen ’ s death.

In 1267 Ejō retired as Abbot of Eihei-ji, giving way to Gikai, who was already favored by Dōgen.

The Japanese brand of the sect was imported in the 13th century by Dōgen Zenji, who studied the Caodong Buddhism () abroad in China.

The branch that was founded by Caoshan died off, and Dōgen was a student of the other branch that survived in China.

Dōgen had received Dharma transmission from Tiantong Rujing at Qìngdé Temple, where Hongzhi Zhengjue once was abbot.

The memory of Dōgen was used to ensure Eihei-ji's central place in the Soto-organisation, and " to cement closer ties with lay people ".

An image of Dōgen was created that suited the specific interests of Eihei-ji:

Some people claim that according to Dōgen Zenji, shikantaza i. e. resting in a state of brightly alert attention that is free of thoughts, directed to no object, and attached to no particular content — is the highest or purest form of zazen, as it was practiced by all the buddhas of the past.

Among his notable disciples was Eihei Dōgen, who himself traveled to China and returned to found the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan.

According to Dōgen scholar Steven Heine: " Dogen's poetic and philosophical works are characterized by a continual effort to express the inexpressible by perfecting imperfectable speech through the creative use of wordplay, neologism, and lyricism, as well as the recasting of traditional expressions ".

The sermons, lectures, sayings and poetry were compiled shortly after Dōgen ’ s death by his main disciples, Koun Ejō ( 孤雲懐奘, 1198 – 1280 ), Senne and Gien.

The earliest work by Dōgen is the Hōkojōki ( Memoirs of the Hōkyō Period ).

* 1227: The Sōtō sect of Zen Buddhism is introduced to Japan by the monk Dōgen Zenji

" In other words Dōgen means by this, " doing only zazen whole-heartedly " or " single-minded sitting.

But if it is instead thought of in terms of the tradition carried out by Augustine and Kierkegaard, then Japan has a rich philosophical history, composed of the great thinkers Kūkai, Shinran, Dōgen, and others.

John Daido Loori justified the use of chanting sutras by referring to Zen master Dōgen.

A number of important manuscripts belong to the temple, including the National Treasure Universally Recommended Instructions for Zazen, by temple founder Dōgen ( 1233 ); teachings he brought back from Song China ( 1227 ); and a record of a subsidy for the earlier Sanmon in the hand of Emperor Go-En ' yū ( 1372 ).

Universally Recommended Instructions for Zazen, by Dōgen, founder of Eihei-ji ; 1233 ; National Treasures of Japan | National Treasure

The term Shōbōgenzō has three main usages in Buddhism: ( 1 ) It can refer to the essence of the Buddha's realization and teaching, that is, to the Buddha Dharma itself, as viewed from the perspective of Mahayana Buddhism, ( 2 ) it is the title of a koan collection with commentaries by Dahui Zonggao, and ( 3 ) it is used in the title of two works by Dōgen Kigen.

In Japan and the West, the term Shōbōgenzō is most commonly known as referring to the titles of two works composed by Japanese Zen master Dōgen Kigen in the mid-13th century.

Indeed the fact that Dōgen styled his effort " Shōbō genzō " suggests that he had as his model a similar compilation of the same title by the most famous of Sung masters, Ta-Hui Tsung-kao.

Some of the fascicles were recorded by Dōgen, while others were likely recorded by his disciples.

These are talks that Dōgen gave to his leading disciple, Ejō, who became Dōgen ’ s disciple in 1234.

* 1253 – September 22 – Dōgen Zenji, founder of the Sōtō school of Zen Buddhism in Japan and author of the Shōbōgenzō and other important works ( b. 1200 )

This one volume work is a collection of questions and answers between Dōgen and his Chinese teacher, Tiāntóng Rújìng ( 天童如淨 ; Japanese: Tendō Nyojō, 1162 – 1228 ).

" By a careful reading of Dōgen ( 1200 – 1253 ) and a watchful understanding of the inner sense of time, Abe learns and teaches how the objectification of time can alienate us from our own experience of its impermanence.

* Dōgen Zenji ( 1200 – 1253 )

Dōgen went to visit Kōin, the Tendai abbot of Onjō-ji Temple ( 園城寺 ), asking him this same question.

In 1217, two years after the death of contemporary Zen Buddhist Myōan Eisai, Dōgen went to study at Kennin-ji Temple ( 建仁寺 ), under Eisai's successor, Myōzen ( 明全 ).

* Fukan-zazengi ( General Advice on the Principles of Zazen ), one volume ; probably written immediately after Dōgen ’ s return from China in 1227

Dirck Vorenkamp, a professor of religious studies, argued in his paper " B-Series Temporal Order in Dogen's Theory of Time " that the Zen Buddhist teacher Dōgen presented views on time that contained all the main elements of McTaggart's B-series view of time ( which denies any objective present ), although he noted that some of Dōgen reasoning also contained A-Series notions, which Vorenkamp argued may indicated some inconsistency in Dōgen's thinking.

* Translation with Norman Waddell: Dōgen, The Heart of Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō ( SUNY 2002 ), from work published in The Eastern Buddhist ( Kyoto 1971-1976 ), as edited by D. T. Suzuki.

Its founder was Eihei Dōgen who brought Sōtō Zen from China to Japan during the 13th century.