#  Dogen 

 



The Japanese monk Dogen (1200-1253) spent two years in China studying Tendai (Tiantai) Buddhism. Disappointed by the intellectualism of the school, he was about to return to Japan when the monk Rujing explained that the practice of Chan simply meant “dropping off both body and mind.” Dogen suddenly realized that the very act of sitting in meditation, so that such conceptions as “body” and “mind” do not arise, is itself enlightenment. After Dogen returned to Japan, the Soto school which he founded developed into one of the preeminent Zen traditions.