Genjō Kōan: Manifestation of reality in Dōgen’s thought

Among the many fascicles of Dōgen Zenji’s Shōbōgenzō, Genjō Kōan (現成公案) holds a particularly central place. Written early in Dōgen’s career, it succinctly captures the essence of his teaching: that the complete manifestation of reality (genjō) is nothing other than the unfolding of everyday life when seen without delusion. In this text, Dōgen articulates key insights on practice-enlightenment, non-duality, impermanence, and the dynamic relationship between self and world.

Zenga (Zen painting) of a bird in flight, reflecting the Zen ideal of expressing inner truth through minimal, intuitive gesture. Interpreted by DALL•E.

Understanding “Genjō Kōan”

The title itself requires careful attention. “Genjō” (現成) means “manifestation” or “actualization”, while “kōan” (公案) in Chán/Zen usage refers to a “public case”, a record of enlightened expression or direct pointing to truth. Thus, Genjō Kōan concerns how reality itself is manifested and recognized directly, beyond conceptual abstraction.

For Dōgen, reality is not a static, external backdrop against which discrete events unfold. Rather, it is an active, ever-present dynamic that is continually realized and actualized moment by moment through our lived experience. This realization does not depend on attaining extraordinary mystical visions or escaping the mundane world. Instead, it emerges through the sincere, thorough, and unreserved engagement with ordinary life — eating, walking, working, interacting — when these activities are approached with deep non-attachment, selflessness, and clear insight. Reality thus is not “out there” to be grasped; it manifests precisely when the practitioner drops all notions of separation and participates fully, without clinging or aversion, in the unfolding immediacy of existence.

Key themes in Genjō Kōan

Genjō Kōan articulates several interrelated themes that form the core of his vision of Zen practice and realization:

Non-Duality of practice and awakening

Dōgen emphasizes that practice and enlightenment are not two distinct stages arranged sequentially along a temporal path, but are in fact an indivisible and simultaneous reality. When one engages sincerely and wholeheartedly in practice — whether it be zazen, working, or ordinary tasks — that very act is already the complete manifestation of awakening. There is no hidden gap between the aspiration to awaken and the fulfillment of that aspiration: practice, performed with total presence and without striving for a future result, is the expression of enlightenment itself.

As Dōgen writes in Genjō Kōan:

“It is the same when a person truly practices and realizes the Buddha-Dharma. […] The realization of the highest truth occurs in a single instant, yet its hidden nature is not necessarily outwardly visible. Realization itself cannot be grasped or fixed.”

Awakening does not lie in some distant culmination; it is fully actualized in each sincere act of practice, dissolving the conventional separation between means and end.

Interdependence of self and world

In a famous passage, Dōgen writes:

“To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things.”

He further deepens this insight:

“To inquire into the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to become one with the ten thousand things. To become one with the ten thousand things is to let go of the body and mind of the self, and of the body and mind of the world.”

This suggests that realizing true selfhood requires a profound transformation: relinquishing the deeply ingrained illusion of a separate, autonomous ego. In Dōgen’s view, the “self” does not exist as an isolated entity independent of its surroundings. Rather, to realize the true nature of selfhood is to recognize that it arises in dynamic interrelation with the myriad phenomena of the world. The practitioner, in forgetting the self, becomes fully actualized by the entirety of existence, seeing that there is no enduring “self” apart from the unfolding processes of reality, and conversely, that reality itself is never separate from the experiencing subject. This realization dissolves the barrier between self and world, affirming their fundamental interpenetration and mutual manifestation.

Impermanence and dynamic realization

Reality, as Dōgen sees it, is not a fixed or static entity but a ceaseless, dynamic unfolding of existence. Each moment, each experience, and each action arises and falls away, embodying the principle of impermanence (無常, mujō) at its core.

As Dōgen writes:

“Firewood becomes ash, and ash can never become firewood again. […] You must understand that firewood occupies its place in the Dharma as firewood, and ash occupies its place in the Dharma as ash.”

This temporal uniqueness is not a flaw to be overcome but a full expression of the Dharma. Life unfolds as a sequence of unrepeatable events, each complete in its own being.

Dōgen also reminds us:

“Even so, flowers fall though we love them, and weeds grow though we dislike them.”

Crucially, enlightenment is not about transcending or escaping this constant flux. Instead, true awakening lies in fully participating in this dynamic movement without grasping, resisting, or imposing conceptual frameworks upon it. For Dōgen, impermanence is not a flaw to be corrected, but the very expression of the Dharma’s vitality. It is precisely through the sincere, non-clinging engagement with the fleeting nature of all things that one realizes the true nature of reality. Life’s ephemeral quality is not an obstacle but the gateway to genuine understanding and liberation.

Everyday activity as Buddha-Dharma

Contrary to the view that awakening is reserved for special moments, sacred places, or formal religious ceremonies, Dōgen insists that the Dharma is fully and vividly present in every facet of ordinary life. Activities such as eating, cleaning, walking, and speaking are not merely preparatory or secondary to spiritual practice; when engaged with full presence, mindfulness, and sincerity, they themselves constitute the complete and immediate expression of the Way.

Dōgen illustrates this in a kōan where a monk asks why Zen master Hōtetsu uses a fan if air is everywhere. The master continues fanning and replies:

“Those who say we need not use a fan because air is always present, or who claim they still feel air without using the fan, do not understand the meaning of ‘always present’. Precisely because air is always present, the everyday actions of Buddhists transform the great earth into pure gold.”

There is no need to seek an idealized or transcendent experience elsewhere. Each action, no matter how mundane it may seem, becomes the actualization of awakening when performed without distraction, attachment, or self-centered striving. In this view, the boundary between the sacred and the profane collapses, revealing that true practice is nothing other than living each moment with total awareness and wholehearted engagement.

Philosophical implications

Dōgen’s Genjō Kōan challenges dualistic notions deeply embedded in both traditional Buddhist and Western thought. The dichotomies between subject and object, practice and goal, sacred and mundane, are all transcended. Reality is not something to be reached; it is something continuously actualized through wholehearted engagement with each moment.

Compared to other Buddhist traditions that emphasize sequential progress toward awakening, such as the Pure Land school with its focus on future rebirth in Amitābha’s Western Paradise, or Indian gradualist frameworks like those in the Abhidharma and Yogācāra schools, which delineate structured stages of mental purification and insight, Dōgen’s vision offers a radically immediate, non-progressive, and embodied realization. Rather than striving for distant soteriological goals, Dōgen insists that awakening is fully enacted in each sincere moment of practice.

His approach also finds resonances, though not identity, with Western philosophical traditions. For example, existentialist thinkers such as Heidegger and Sartre explore the question of authentic existence and the collapse of subject-object dualism, yet often within a framework marked by anxiety and alienation. In contrast, Dōgen’s non-duality dissolves the distinction between practitioner and world without despair, replacing existential angst with compassionate participation in impermanent reality. Phenomenology, especially in Husserl and Merleau-Ponty, shares with Dogen the emphasis on direct experience and embodiment. Yet while Western phenomenology often maintains a subject-centered orientation, Dōgen transcends the very notion of a fixed subject, seeing the self as dynamically co-emergent with all phenomena.

These comparisons reveal that Dōgen’s perspective neither conforms to the step-wise teleology of traditional Buddhist soteriology nor to the existential isolation of modern Western thought. Instead, it opens a radically different space, one grounded in immediacy, participation, and non-separation.

Through the lens of Genjō Kōan, Dōgen invites a complete reorientation of how reality, practice, and selfhood are understood: not as problems to be solved or states to be attained, but as activities to be fully inhabited in each moment. This sets the stage for a new, embodied approach to spiritual realization, one where life itself is the Way, already manifest, awaiting only sincere participation.

Conclusion

Genjō Kōan distills Dōgen’s radical reinterpretation of Buddhist practice and realization, emphasizing that awakening is not a distant goal but the lived experience of each moment when approached with full sincerity. Central themes such as the non-duality of practice and enlightenment, the interdependence of self and world, and the sacredness of ordinary activities reshape traditional Buddhist discourse and demand a rethinking of spiritual practice itself.

Compared to other Buddhist traditions, such as Pure Land Buddhism’s focus on future rebirth or gradualist paths in Indian Buddhism, Dōgen’s approach eliminates future-oriented striving. Awakening is not delayed but enacted immediately through sincere engagement with life. While Western existentialism and phenomenology explore aspects of embodied experience and subject-object collapse, Dōgen’s perspective avoids existential angst by rooting realization in compassionate non-duality rather than isolated subjectivity.

Zen Buddhism, as exemplified in Genjō Kōan, offers a uniquely dynamic model: not escape from impermanence, nor abstraction about reality, but full immersion in lived reality itself. In doing so, it provides a practical and philosophically coherent approach to spiritual practice, grounded in the immediacy of existence rather than deferred ideals.

References and further reading

• Oliver Bottini, Das große O.-W.-Barth-Buch des Zen, 2002, Barth im Scherz-Verl, ISBN: 9783502611042
• Heinrich Dumoulin, Geschichte des Zen-Buddhismus, Band 1+2, 2019, 2., durchgesehene und erweiterte Auflage, Francke A. Verlag, ISBN: 9783772085161
• Hans-Günter Wagner, Buddhismus in China: Von den Anfängen bis in die Gegenwart, 2020, Matthes & Seitz Berlin, ISBN: 978-3957578440
• Jr. Buswell, Robert E., Jr. Lopez, Donald S., Juhn Ahn, J. Wayne Bass, William Chu, The Princeton dictionary of Buddhism, 2014, Princeton University Press, ISBN: 978-0-691-15786-3
• Oliver Freiberger, Christoph Kleine, Buddhismus - Handbuch und kritische Einführung, 2011, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, ISBN: 9783525500040
• Dogen Zenji, Shobogenzo – Die Schatzkammer des wahren Dharma-Auges, 4 Bände, 2013, Verlage: Kristkeitz Werner, Übersetzung: Ritsunen Gabriele Linnebach, Gudo Wafu Nishijima, ISBN: 9783921508909
• Dogen Zenji, Unterweisungen zum wahren Buddha-Weg. Shobogenzo Zuimonki (2011), Verlage: Kristkeitz Werner, ISBN: 9783932337680
• Dogen Zenji, Hōkyōki, 2020, Angkor Verlag, Übersetzung: Guido Keller, Taro Yamada, Hidesama Iwamoto, ISBN: 9783943839821
• Dogen Zenji (Autor), Guido Keller (Übersetzer), Taro Yamada (Übersetzer), Eihei Shingi - Regeln für die Zen-Gemeinschaft, 2022, BoD – Books on Demand, ISBN: 9783988040008
• Dogen Zenji (Autor), Guido Keller (Übersetzer), Eihei Kôroku, 2017, Angkor Verlag, ISBN: 9783936018936
• Shohaku Okumura, Die Verwirklichung der Wirklichkeit - «Genjokoan» - der Schlüssel zu Dogen-Zenjis Shobogenzo, 2014, Kristkeitz, ISBN: 9783932337604