This book addresses the question of how to properly handle Dgens texts, a core issue that became critical during the Meiji period in which the philosophical appropriation of Dgen became apparent inside and outside of the monastery. 

In present day Dgen studies, most scholarship is informed by a number of factions representing Dgen.  The chapters herein address: the Zennist (j. zenjka) emphasising practice, the Genznians (j. genzka) shifting the attention to the close reading of Dgens texts, the laity movement opening up both the texts and the practice to people in modern society, and the Genz researchers (j. genz kenkyka) searching for the authenticity and truth of Dgens writings. 

The book aims to clarify the rightful place of Dgen: in the monastery, in denominational studies, or in modern academic philosophy? It brings forth various viewpoints on Dgen, and analyzes the relations of these viewpoints from the premodern to modern times.  The collected volume appeals to students and researchers in the field while establishing hermeneutic standards of reading and proposing new, original, and critical interpretations of Dgens texts.

Chapter From Uji to Being-time (and Back): Translating Dgen into Philosophy is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Dr. Ralf Mueller works at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Hildesheim, Germany.  His Ph.D. Dissertation was on the Zen Buddhist figure, Dogen, the central figure of this present volume. 

Dr. George Wrisley is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Georgia. His areas of expertise are Metaphysics, Philosophy of Language, Ethics, Wittgenstein, Nietzsche and Buddhism. 

1. A Critical History of Interpretations of an Ambiguous Shobogenzo Sentence.- 2. Dgen and the Buddhist Way.- 3. Dogen as Philosopher, Dogens Philosophical Zen.- 4. Incorporating Dogen as philosopher? The example of Nishida Kitaro.- 5. Interpretive Sensibilities in Dogen's Genjokoan. Negotiating the Path Between Textual Authority and Creativeness.- 6. Dgen as Philosopher, Metaphysician, and Metaethicist.- 7. Philosopher, Religious Thinker or Theologian?: Engaging Dgen beyond Zen Modernism.- 8. The Practice of Time and the Time of Practice. Dogen and Marcus-Aurelius on Impermanence and Self.- 9. Do Not Lose the Rice: Dogen Through the Eyes of Contemporary Western Zen Women.- 10. Engaging with Dgens texts: the nonduality of philosophy and religion.- 11. Uji: Analysis of Dgens Language Style as the Formation Ground for his Philosophy.