ZEN (2009) The Life of Zen Master Dogen (Jpse. with Eng. Subtitles). Full film.

This is a dramatic reconstruction of the Life of the great Japanese monk Dogen who flourished in Japan in the 13th century and introduced Soto Zen Buddhism from China. It appears from the film that Buddhism was in a very corrupt state in Japan in the 13th century, with drinking and whoring common in the Sangha. To find out what the Buddha had really taught Dogen travelled to China, where he met the master Ju-ching, whose teaching was to have a life-long effect of the young monk: the practice of Zen is to have the mind and the body fall away, this falling away is the path out of ignorance and vice. Almost upon meeting the master he received face-to-face transmission at the Tien-tung-shan temple and given the transmission of the Dharma. Another big influence on him at that time was the Kitchen Master at the Ayu-wan-shan kuang-li Zen Temple, in whose honour the Kitchen Master Instructions were later written. After returning to Japan in 1227, he wrote his first major work, which brought him some notoriety, a