Dogen (1200-1253) is the founder of the Soto Zen sect in Japan.¹ In modern times his principal work, Shobogenzo (The Eye and Treasury of the True Law),² has been regarded as one of the most outstanding in Japan by the Japanese philosophers, Tanabe³ and Watsuji.⁴ Recently philosophical thought, based on his unsurpassed religious experience, has attracted the attention of many westerners. So I would like to make his subtle, but difficult thought on the Way (Tao) understandable to western readers who might get stimulation and new insight from it.