Dōgen Zenji is revered in Japan as the founder of Sōtō Zen. He is ranked as one of the great religious philosophers. Born in 1200, he was responsible for bringing one of the main streams of Buddhist thought from China to Japan. The Sōtō Zen school he founded is still one of the important Buddhist traditions in Japan.
Beginning in the 1960s with teachers such as Shunryū Suzuki Roshi (founder of the San Francisco Zen Center), Dainin Katagiri Roshi (founder of the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center), and Hakuyu Maezumi Roshi (founder of Zen Center of Los Angeles), Dōgen’s spiritual descendents began to appear in the United States. Generation after generation, his writings have continued to influence Zen practitioners of all schools.
Modern scholars have “discovered” Dōgen during the past 30 years and have been considering how his writings are applicable to today’s world. Through the work of people such as poet and writer Gary Snyder, Dōgen’s writings have influenced the practice of “deep ecology,” a social movement and philosophy dedicated to ecological principles based on interdependence.