Metaphysics in Dogen

It is my hypothesis that metaphysics is an overlooked but fruitful category for cross- cultural philosophy, and I would like to demonstrate this hypothesis with what may seem an unpromising example, the writings of the Zen Buddhist teacher Dogen Kigen (1200-1253). The first section of this essay introduces a definition of meta- physics that, although drawn from the Western philosophical tradition, is, I hope, generic enough to be useful for the study of philosophy outside the West, and then argues for the legitimacy of metaphysics as an interpretative tool for the under- standing of Zen Buddhist thought. The second section spells out what I take to be the basic features of Dogen's metaphysics, and the third deals with a rival non- metaphysical interpretation of Dogen's philosophy.