Dazed and Confused Part 1: An Introduction to Dogen Zenji

Wimbledon Zen

'Dazed and Confused: Trying to make sense of Dogen's philosophy if you're not as smart as Taigen Dan Leighton' In this first section, Alan gives an introduction to the life of Dogen, and why you might be interested in the Zen Master's teachings. Dogen Zenji (1200-1253) is one of the most important teachers in the history of Zen Buddhism. Dogen's philosophy has been incredibly influential on generations of Zen practitioners, including many important modern day teachers, such as Shunryu Suzuki, Dainin Katagiri, Shohaku Okumura, Taigen Dan Leighton and Brad Warner. Dogen's writings are famous for turning words on their head to try and find a way to explain Buddhist realisation, an experience that is simply impossible to describe using conventional language. This feature of his work, however, makes Dogen incredibly challenging to read. We can tell that profound truths are being explained but are often left totally baffled by the crazy, topsy-turvy way that Dogen writes about Zen. This three part talk from Wimbledon Zen aims to assist the modern student in approaching Dogen's philosophy. In an informal way the talk looks at why we want to study Dogen, some of the reasons why he is difficult to understand and then sets out a summary of Dogen's philosophy, outlining 20 key principles that emerge from his writings. If you've ever wondered why Dogen thinks you should hit the cart rather the ox to make it move, this is the talk for you!