Born into Japanese nobility around 1200 and orphaned of his mother at seven, Dogen walked away from a guaranteed life of power to enter the monasteries of Mount Hiei, where a single paradox consumed him: if everyone is born with Buddha nature, why did the Buddha and the masters need lifelong rigorous practice? When no teacher could answer, he risked his life crossing the East China Sea in 1223, was disappointed again by Chinese monks treating koans as intellectual games, and finally broke through in 1225 under master Rujing with the experience of dropping away body and mind.

This episode follows Dogen's return to Japan, his teaching of zazen and shikantaza, or just sitting, his conflict with the Tendai establishment, his retreat to snowbound Echizen to found Eiheiji, the dark period he endured there, and the philosophical masterworks that e ...