What do you think?
Rate this book
Receiving the Marrow: Teachings on Dogen by Soto Zen Women Priests
Dogen's great spiritual teachings are the foundation of Soto Zen. For the first time, contemporary American women Zen masters in the Soto tradition, join together to reach within Dogen's mind to make his masterpieces accessible and practical for those seeking deeper realization and understanding.
266 pages, Paperback
First published August 29, 2012
1 person is currently reading
40 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 2, 2025
This is an important contribution to Buddhist commentary in general, and in particular, commentary on the teachings of Dogen Zenji. The subtitle is the reason why: "Teachings on Dogen by Soto Zen Women Priests". Now, of course, just as there's no universal "men's perspective" as seen by the sometimes cantankerous debates among male teachers, we should not expect some hegemonic "female voice" and these eleven women evidence a variety of vision.
Let's face it, for most of its history, Chan/Seon/Thien/Zen has been absolutely male dominated. To some extent, of course, women have always played a part in the practice, teaching, and dissemination of Zen, but there's a tell in how their contributions for the most part have been unrecorded by HIS-story. As the editor, Eido Frances Carney points out in the "Introduction", "Throughout history it has been rare to find women of any religion who stood on their own spiritual authority, rather than an authority lent to them by men. Privilege prevented women from achieving legitimacy without a man's confirmation and promotion."
Of course, from the beginning, though the Buddha was hesitant to ordain women, he acknowledged their capacity to awaken was equal to that of men. And Dogen welcomed women into the Soto Zen tradition writing "When it comes to realizing the Buddha Dharma make no distinction between men and women or between nobles and commoners." Thus, Carney says "...we don't rise to demonstrate our full capacities because Dogen says so, we rise because we ourselves understand, by right of our practice-experience and spiritual authority in the Buddha Dharma, that Awakening does not make distinctions. Thus we stand side by side with Dogen Zenji in confirmation of his teachings."
That said, Carny doesn't downplay Dogen's own contradictions as she adds "He had numerous women students as did his successors, although Dogen did not ordain any women. Neither did he go so far as to order equality in the Zendo, where women sat in a lower-status position."
Given this, she goes on to say "This collection then is not a feminist treatise, but an extension of the right and just equality that belongs to all sentient beings". I would argue that this is EXACTLY why this is a feminist text! Given the historical context of patriarchy in the Zen traditions, this stance is a feminist response and I wish Carney hadn't shied away from that. There's also a reason that the first book of this nature is the result of western women practitioners who grew up during the feminist struggle for equality. When I first sat in a zendo in 1976, it was pretty much still a men's group but over the decades, like with yoga, there's been a feminization of the tradition so that some of the most relevant teachers are indeed women.
Now, as one would expect of any collection of essays by eleven different people, the quality of the writing and depth and nuance of the teachings vary. There's something of value in every one of these essays, AND some present a vision that is truly remarkable. I hesitate to single out any specific writers or essays but I do want to say that Shotai De La Rosa's essay, "One Bright Jewel" is replete with some important observations often over-looked by others such as how she clearly marks the distinction between the non-dual understanding of Vedanta and that of Madhyamaka: "... for Dogen, non-dualism is essentially inseparable from dualism, not its opposite, otherwise the non-duality will be dualistic". The crux of the issue is that Vedanta is more accurately understood as a form of monism essentializing 'the One' as Brahman. Of course, many within Zen end up essentializing the empty nature of phenomena into an "emptiness" that in all but name sounds suspiciously like Brahman. Similarly, the concept of "buddha-nature" is often essentialized into a subtle atman. The tendency to do so permeates the Zen traditions and thankfully the Critical Buddhism movement (which sadly went mostly ignored by the Soto Zen School) can offer a clear way to avoid such essentializing. It is around this issue that Zen Naturalism distinguishes itself from the mainstream of Zen culture.
Let's face it, for most of its history, Chan/Seon/Thien/Zen has been absolutely male dominated. To some extent, of course, women have always played a part in the practice, teaching, and dissemination of Zen, but there's a tell in how their contributions for the most part have been unrecorded by HIS-story. As the editor, Eido Frances Carney points out in the "Introduction", "Throughout history it has been rare to find women of any religion who stood on their own spiritual authority, rather than an authority lent to them by men. Privilege prevented women from achieving legitimacy without a man's confirmation and promotion."
Of course, from the beginning, though the Buddha was hesitant to ordain women, he acknowledged their capacity to awaken was equal to that of men. And Dogen welcomed women into the Soto Zen tradition writing "When it comes to realizing the Buddha Dharma make no distinction between men and women or between nobles and commoners." Thus, Carney says "...we don't rise to demonstrate our full capacities because Dogen says so, we rise because we ourselves understand, by right of our practice-experience and spiritual authority in the Buddha Dharma, that Awakening does not make distinctions. Thus we stand side by side with Dogen Zenji in confirmation of his teachings."
That said, Carny doesn't downplay Dogen's own contradictions as she adds "He had numerous women students as did his successors, although Dogen did not ordain any women. Neither did he go so far as to order equality in the Zendo, where women sat in a lower-status position."
Given this, she goes on to say "This collection then is not a feminist treatise, but an extension of the right and just equality that belongs to all sentient beings". I would argue that this is EXACTLY why this is a feminist text! Given the historical context of patriarchy in the Zen traditions, this stance is a feminist response and I wish Carney hadn't shied away from that. There's also a reason that the first book of this nature is the result of western women practitioners who grew up during the feminist struggle for equality. When I first sat in a zendo in 1976, it was pretty much still a men's group but over the decades, like with yoga, there's been a feminization of the tradition so that some of the most relevant teachers are indeed women.
Now, as one would expect of any collection of essays by eleven different people, the quality of the writing and depth and nuance of the teachings vary. There's something of value in every one of these essays, AND some present a vision that is truly remarkable. I hesitate to single out any specific writers or essays but I do want to say that Shotai De La Rosa's essay, "One Bright Jewel" is replete with some important observations often over-looked by others such as how she clearly marks the distinction between the non-dual understanding of Vedanta and that of Madhyamaka: "... for Dogen, non-dualism is essentially inseparable from dualism, not its opposite, otherwise the non-duality will be dualistic". The crux of the issue is that Vedanta is more accurately understood as a form of monism essentializing 'the One' as Brahman. Of course, many within Zen end up essentializing the empty nature of phenomena into an "emptiness" that in all but name sounds suspiciously like Brahman. Similarly, the concept of "buddha-nature" is often essentialized into a subtle atman. The tendency to do so permeates the Zen traditions and thankfully the Critical Buddhism movement (which sadly went mostly ignored by the Soto Zen School) can offer a clear way to avoid such essentializing. It is around this issue that Zen Naturalism distinguishes itself from the mainstream of Zen culture.
Displaying 1 of 1 review