Dogen would return to Japan and while he professed a nonsectarian Zen, in fact he called what he taught simply “the Buddha way,” he is acknowledged as the founder of the Japanese Caodong school, using the Japanese pronunciation, Soto. He was a prolific writer and some of his writings are considered among the great spiritual treasures of world culture.
In this post I’ll offer some dharma gems from Keizan Jōkin Zenji (1268–1325), the fourth generation in the Sōtō succession in Japan. Keizan is regarded as