Dogen's Private Notes from the Hokyo Era: What Was Dogen Thinking?
In which Dogen denies that karmic hindrances are empty.
Our theme for the year is KARMA and so we have been pounding away on the karmically-generated obstructions to deep calm and insight. Here on our Ghost site, that's manifested through our focus on Dogen's notes from his time with his old teacher, Rujing. These are now known as Hokyo-ki.
Turns out that there is plenty about karmic hindrances in this old text. This, though, is the last Hokyo-ki post on this theme. Next up, we'll return to the vital importance of the interacting communion of appeal and response (kanno doko 感應道交), then give a careful look at Rujing's attitude toward the sutras, and what it means to "just sit dropping body-mind."
In this post, we offer new translations for three selections of Hokyo-ki, all of which occurred in the months after Dogen's great awakening in August, 1225—and so are best consider part of his post-awakening training. The first highlights the importance of vigorous, diligent practice; in the second, the importance of not denying karma (and by extension, how you might be doing just that); and in the third, Dogen denies that karmic hindrances are empty.
That Dogen suggests that karmic hindrances are not empty might cause you to pause for a moment. After all, as The Heart Sutra says, "form is exactly emptiness, emptiness is exactly form." Indeed, in recent conversation with a senior Soto Zen teacher, when reminded about this teaching of Dogen, they responded, "But it is an established teaching throughout Mahayana Buddhism that karmic hindrances are empty."
Indeed. So what the heck was old Dogen playing at? We'll get to that below.
First, last call on the Day of Retreat, March 15, 5:50am-4:00pm CT, open to all paid subscribers. Registration closes at 7:00pm CT on Tuesday, March 10, 2026.
Tetsugan Osho