“When Mountains Can No Longer Be Seen”: A Critical History of Interpretations of an Ambiguous Shōbōgenzō Sentence

Abstract

This paper critically examines the various ways a particularly puzzling line in Dōgen’s 道元 “Genjōkōan” 現成公案 fascicle has been interpreted by premodern sources, especially the Goshō commentary by Senne 詮慧 and Kyōgō 經豪, as well as modern commentators, including sectarian figures such as Nishiari Bokusan 西有穆山 and Kurebayashi Kōdō 榑林皓堂 seen in relation to non-sectarian philosophers such as Watsurji Tetsurō 和辻哲郎. The key passage on “riding a boat out to sea, where mountains can no longer be seen (yamanaki kaichū 山なき海中),” raises crucial issues concerning Dōgen’s approach to multi-perspectivism that have been generally been construed in terms of absolutist and relativist standpoints. My analysis of the scholastic debates also sheds light on the full history of commentaries on Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō 正法眼蔵 encompassing the late medieval and early modern periods.