Visions of Awakening Space and Time: Dogen and the Lotus Sutra

Asa religion concerned with universal liberation, Zen grew out of aBuddhist worldview very different from the currently prevalentscientific materialism. Indeed, says Taigen Dan Leighton, Zen cannotbe fully understood outside of a worldview that sees reality itselfas a vital, dynamic agent of awareness and healing. In this book,Leighton explicates that worldview through the writings of the Zenmaster Eihei D?gen (1200-1253), considered the founder of theJapanese S?t? Zen tradition, which currently enjoys increasingpopularity in the West.
The Lotus Sutra, arguably the mostimportant Buddhist scripture in East Asia, contains a famous storyabout bodhisattvas (enlightening beings) who emerge from under theearth to preserve and expound the Lotus teaching in the distantfuture. The story reveals that the Buddha only appears to pass away,but actually has been practicing, and will continue to do so, over aninconceivably long life span.
Leighton traces commentaries on theLotus Sutra from a range of key East Asian Buddhist thinkers,including Daosheng, Zhiyi, Zhanran, Saigyo, My?e, Nichiren, Hakuin,and Ry?kan. But his main focus is Eihei D?gen, the 13th centuryJapanese S?t? Zen founder who imported Zen from China, and whoseprofuse, provocative, and poetic writings are important to the modernexpansion of Buddhism to the West.
D?gen's use of this sutraexpresses the critical role of Mahayana vision and imagination as thecontext of Zen teaching, and his interpretations of this storyfurthermore reveal his dynamic worldview of the earth, space, andtime themselves as vital agents of spiritual awakening.
Leightonargues that D?gen uses the images and metaphors in this story toexpress his own religious worldview, in which earth, space, and timeare lively agents in the bodhisattva project. Broader awareness ofD?gen's worldview and its implications, says Leighton, can illuminatethe possibilities for contemporary approaches to primary Mahayanaconcepts and practices.