Beyond Thinking (eBook)

Introductionby Norman Fischer

Theyear 2000 marked the 800th anniversary of Dogen's birth, a good time toappreciate the crucial contribution this great teacher has made not only toJapanese Soto Zen Buddhism, or even to Zen Buddhism in general, but also toreligious practice the world over. The last half of the twentieth century hasbeen perhaps the strongest time for Dogen's work: In Japan and in the West hehas been studied as never before, and his thought has been influential not onlyfor a Soto School that is now thoroughly international, but also in a widerphilosophical discussion, in which he is often compared with Heidegger,Whitehead, Wittgenstein, and others.

Dogen'sthought has proven useful and germane to many postmodern discussions in fieldslike metaphysics, epistemology, and language theory. When I began practicingZen in 1970 and encountered Dogen's writing for the first time, he was verylittle known and understood in the West. Although much of his writing has yetto be brought into European languages, several English translations of hismasterwork Shobogenzo(fromwhich many of the pieces in this volume come), as well as other materials, arenow available, and Western Zen practice centers based on his work have beenestablished. With all this, I think we can say that serious study of Dogen inthe West is well underway.

Itseems natural then at this moment to take stock of where we stand with Dogen,both in Japan and in the West. Who is Dogen? What is his teaching? Why is heimportant? For those of us who have been practicing Zen for many years,studying and trying to put into practice Dogen's ideas, a new spirit isemerging. There is a greater willingness to view Dogen critically, to see theproblems as well as the tremendous and sublime depths, and to recognize thatthe religion he founded has had its ups and downs. In Japan the Sotoestablishment has in recent years made a strong effort to reach out to thewider world. It has forthrightly apologized for past mistakes (supportingJapanese militarism before and during World War II and going along with theJapanese anti-Chinese racist policies of that period), and, more than this, ithas engaged in its own internal debate about how and why these mistakes weremade. In many ways the Japanese Soto church has made sincere efforts to acceptnon-Japanese practitioners not simply as colonial subjects of their religion,but also as robust and authentic practitioners in their own right, who may havesomething to contribute to a wider-ranging study of the master. All of this wasunimaginable twenty-five years ago.

WesternZen practitioners are beginning to grow also, retaining a good deal of theinitial wonder and adoration of Dogen, but tempering them with a critical eye.It is true that Dogen's writings are lofty, difficult, and profound, greattreasures of world religious thought. And yet, we are now beginning to admitthat Dogen's thought is also at times cranky, narrow-minded, elitist,fundamentalist, occasionally violent in its expression. We are beginning toadmit that no human being, Dogen included, is perfect, unchanging, or alwaysright, and that no person or institution remains unaffected by the social andpolitical conditions that form the context for what happens to it.

AlthoughDogen was a religious reformer and innovator, he was also, deeply, atraditionalist. A traditionalist religious view is more often than notnarrow-minded, authoritarian, and rule-bound, more likely to cut off real andvibrant life than to foster it. We need only study the record of any religiousestablishment to confirm this—,from jihad to the Crusades, religion's effect onthe human...