Dogen

• Born: 1200
• Died: 1253
• Japanese: 道元 (Dougen)

Dôgen is considered the founder of the Sôtô school of Zen Buddhism in Japan.

Dôgen was adopted by his samurai half-brother Minamoto no Michitomo in 1205. In 1227, after traveling to China, he introduced the Sôtô (C: Caodao) school of Zen to Japan. In contrast to the Rinzai Zen advocated by Eisai around the same time, which emphasized the contemplation of kôans, Dôgen's Sôtô Zen emphasized zazen - seated meditation.

Dôgen distanced himself from centers of religious and secular authority, building a small temple in a remote, mountainous area in Echizen province (today, Fukui prefecture); this temple later came to be known as Eihei-ji, and is today one of two head temples of Sôtô Zen in Japan.

The 2009 film Zen features kabuki actor Nakamura Kankurô as Dôgen, and relates a fictionalized version of Dôgen's life.

References

• "Zen," Internet Movie Database (IMDB).
• Conrad Schirokauer, et al, A Brief History of Japanese Civilization, Wadsworth Cengage (2013), 81.