Sublime

It was not until the monks Eisai (1141–1215) and Dogen (1200–1253) returned from their pilgrimages to temples in China that Zen started to catch the imagination of the Japanese.

Dogen founded the Soto sect of Zen Buddhism in 1227 after experiencing enlightenment in the Chinese monastery on Mount Tiantong in 1225. On returning to Japan,

The Eurasian world in 100 CE (figure 5.5) was comprised of three major empires along the west-east axis of the lucky latitudes: the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean basin; the Parthian Empire of western Asia (today’s Iraq and Iran), and the Han Empire of China.