The Mind in the “Buddha-Nature” Fascicule of the <i>Shōbōgenzō</i>: <i>Dōgen’s</i> Religious Awakening

Abstract

This paper examines the validity of the theory that the mind in Dōgen’s 道元 （1200-1253） argument is the true mind without exception, and it does so by focusing on the Buddha-nature 仏性 fascicule of the Shōbōgenzō 正法眼蔵. The mind in Dōgen’s argument includes the cognitive mind of an ordinary person （bonpu 凡夫）. It is difficult to find a description of the cognitive mind of the ordinary person, as the 75-fascicule Shōbōgenzō is said to have been written from the point of view of Dōgen’s enlightenment. However, in the third fascicule, “Buddha-nature”, the relationship between sentient beings and Buddha-nature is mentioned, and a description of the mind can be seen. Therefore, we will consider the description of the mind in the “Buddha-nature” fascicule as the pivot. Then, assuming that the true mind is the true religious awakening, we can view Dōgen’s description of religious awakening, and infer the reason why he does not mention the cognitive mind of the ordinary person and confirm his definition of true religious awakening. This shows that Dōgen distinguished between religious awakening and true religious awakening.