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Shōbōgenzō

Japanese Sōtō · Dōgen

Original study guide

Original study summary.

Dōgen’s collection of teaching essays explores Buddhist practice, language, time, embodiment and realization.

A recurring theme is that practice and realization cannot simply be separated into a means now and an achievement later.

The essays use scriptural citations, Chan stories and challenging turns of language. Reading often benefits from attention to an individual essay’s setting.

This is a Japanese teaching collection, not a Pāli discourse or an Indian Mahāyāna sūtra. It is central to Dōgen’s later reception in Sōtō.

This page is an orientation to the work or collection, not its full text.

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