Dōgen
Japanese monk and writerWikipedia
542
MENTIONS
98
EPISODES
53
PODCASTS
Search complete. 542 mentions across 98 episodes found for "Dōgen".
Sep 11, 2026
Mary Ann SackstederGUEST
Um, 'cause our talk today is gonna be focused on the last three paragraphs, but we have to get to there again.
Mary Ann SackstederGUEST
So, in the beginning, we encountered Dogen's questioning and doubt-- doubting, and his conclusion that we just must sit down right in the middle of our lives.
Mary Ann SackstederGUEST
Stop all the running around, just sit down, take the backward step.
Mary Ann SackstederGUEST
And this is sitting down beyond ideas of good or bad, beyond grasping to get anything or to achieve anything.
Mary Ann SackstederGUEST
Your life is completely whole in this very moment, in every moment, regardless of the procession of thoughts arising and passing.
Mary Ann SackstederGUEST
Well, in my first talk, I shared these words from Josho Pat Phelan, and I want to bring them forward again.
Mary Ann SackstederGUEST
Um, she said, "The answer to Dogen's doubt took shape as because we are already Buddha, or because consciousness is fundamentally awake and boundless, practice is not a technique or method of cultivating enlightenment.
Mary Ann SackstederGUEST
Rather, it is a manifestation [clears throat] or embodiment of the awakened quality of consciousness.
Sara CampbellGUEST
So Gigi was Keizan's temple.
Sara CampbellGUEST
Eheju was Dogen's temple.
Sara CampbellGUEST
I mean, these are places like incredible historical significance.
Sara CampbellGUEST
And the ceremonies were basically him going to serve as abbot for a day.
Trudy GoodmanGUEST
And so we have, often we have a kind of idealistic view of what it means to awaken.
Trudy GoodmanGUEST
And I like that story about Maisumi Roshi because when we're reflecting what is true and what is how things actually are, it isn't always a pretty sight, is it? And Dogen Zenji, the 13th century Zen master, he said that his only regret in life...
Trudy GoodmanGUEST
I was very interested.
Trudy GoodmanGUEST
I just read this recently, and I've been reading him for decades.
Matt FisherGUEST
I am a contemplation guy.
Matt FisherGUEST
I love Suzuki and and and Thomas Merton and Dogen.
Matt FisherGUEST
And I bet.
Matt FisherGUEST
The idea of clearing one's mind, the sort of apophatic prayer versus cataphatic prayer, which is like prayer with no words versus prayer with words.
David Keizan ScottHOST
[laughing] The absurdity of the human condition.
David Keizan ScottHOST
So I-I just-- It reminds me to, you know, Dogen's, um, statement which clarifies and states it all.
David Keizan ScottHOST
"Studying the Buddha Way is to study the self.
David Keizan ScottHOST
To study the self is to forget the self.
Shiryū MoeGUEST
I invite you to hold this tension, which I hope we could revisit in discussion groups later on.
Shiryū MoeGUEST
Reb ends this chapter with a short poem by Ehei Dogen, the 13th century Japanese monk and founder of the Soto School of Zen in which we practice today.
Shiryū MoeGUEST
Here is how Dogen's poem goes.
Shiryū MoeGUEST
Always, since these flowers are invariably blooming in my home village, the colors do not change, although spring passes.
Shiryū MoeGUEST
Always, since these flowers are invariably blooming in my home village, the colors do not change, although spring passes.
Shiryū MoeGUEST
I like this poem because it's simple.
Shiryū MoeGUEST
When spring passes and the flowers fall, we have faith that spring will come again, that the flowers will rebloom.
Shiryū MoeGUEST
But Dogen tells us that the colors do not change.
Kisei CostenbaderHOST
It's not just about striving and determination.
Kisei CostenbaderHOST
Dogen Zenji says, "Zazen is not meditation practice.
Kisei CostenbaderHOST
It is simply the Dharma gate of joyful ease." Then another early Chan Zen teacher says, "Zen is becoming seasoned in the way of ease." Seasoned in the way of ease.
Kisei CostenbaderHOST
I like both meanings of seasoned.
8 MINS LATER
Kisei CostenbaderHOST
Like, we can't know them.
Kisei CostenbaderHOST
So there's a kind of faith there.
Kisei CostenbaderHOST
Dogen Zenji has this line that comes back to me all the time during Sesshin.
Kisei CostenbaderHOST
He says...
Kisei CostenbaderHOST
Like we form this relationship with parts of the forest, parts of the meadow, parts of the monastery grounds.
Kisei CostenbaderHOST
And Dogen has this beautiful quote in the Mountains and Water Sutra.
Kisei CostenbaderHOST
He says, mountains belong to the people who love them.
Kisei CostenbaderHOST
And it's not like they belong.
James FinleyGUEST
text.
James FinleyGUEST
One of my for me primary teachers in this path is Dogen, Zen Master Dogen, 13th century Japanese Zen Master Dogen.
James FinleyGUEST
And Dogen is in Japan and he's in the Dharma hall.
James FinleyGUEST
He's in the hall giving a talk to the monks, teaching the Dharma, meaning teaching the way, teaching the path of awakening.
James FinleyGUEST
And here's his Dharma talk to the monks.
James FinleyGUEST
They're all sitting around listening.
James FinleyGUEST
And Dogen says this to them.
James FinleyGUEST
Dogen says, One night, all the Buddhas of the past, present, and the future visited me in my room.
Domyo BurkHOST
And then I'm gonna be talking tonight about my teachers, Kyogen and Gyokuko Carlson, who went to Shasta Abbey and trained with Roshi Kennett, and then kind of their, their Dharma story.
Domyo BurkHOST
So, uh, and just if you're curious later on in this series, you know, gonna cover history, but then essentially we're gonna be talking about, you know, the, the fundamentals of our lineage, what characterizes our lineage, fundamental teachings and, um, you know, our foundational like Dogen and Keizan, and things like that.
Domyo BurkHOST
So I will play a few moments.
Domyo BurkHOST
Yeah.
Jiyu KennettSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
That nothing is the fullest nothing I have ever met with.
Jiyu KennettSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
There's so much in there, it's incredible.
Jiyu KennettSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
But how do you explain it? So if you know what I'm talking about when I call it the Cosmic Buddha, and please don't get hurt by the, uh, terminology, I think you'll be able to understand better what Dogen is talking about here.
Jiyu KennettSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
The most important question for all Buddhists is how to understand birth and death completely.
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