Fukanzazengi (Universal Recommendation for Zazen)

Text

Dōgen's earliest extant work and his foundational practice manual, drafted in 1227 shortly after his return from China and revised in 1233. In a few hundred characters it lays out the rationale, posture, breathing, and inner orientation of zazen — the seated meditation he treats not as a means to enlightenment but as its very expression. Read in Sōtō zendos worldwide as the canonical "how-to" of shikantaza.

tr. Sōtōshū Shūmuchō, Sōtō Zen Text Project — Fukanzazengi (Universal Recommendation for Zazen)

license: fair_use

Original language

Attribution

• Attributed To
  Dōgen

Lineage: Sōtō

By Dōgen

• How to Sit (Fukanzazengi, opening)practice-instruction
• Not Aware of Enlightenmentproverb
• Continuous Practiceproverb
• Flowers Fall, Weeds Springproverb
• Firewood and Ash (Genjokoan)sermon

From Fukanzazengi

• How to Sit (Fukanzazengi, opening)

Sources

• contentFukanzazengi 普勧坐禅儀 (Universal Recommendation for Zazen)

  Eihei Dōgen

  Sōtōshū global website, Fukanzazengi page

  Fukan Zazengi (Universal Recommendation for Zazen) is the first known writing on Zazen by Dōgen Zenji, founder of the Sōtō Zen school in Japan. He wrote it in 1227, the year of his return from Sung China.