Steven Heine


Steven Heine, is a scholar in the field of Zen Buddhist history and thought, particularly the life and teachings of Zen Master Dōgen. He has also taught and published extensively on Japanese religion and society in worldwide perspectives.

Teaching and research career

Heine lectured at Villanova University in Religious Studies from 1982 to 1987. In 1987, he became an assistant professor of religion at La Salle University and taught there until 1991 when he moved to Penn State University and became an associate professor of Religious Studies. He left Penn State University in 1997 to work as director of Florida International University's Asian Studies Program. Since his arrival at FIU, Heine has expanded Asian Studies and helped facilitate its growth at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He is editor of the Japan Studies Review and a review editor for Philosophy East and West.

White Collar Zen

Heine also runs the White Collar Zen project which examines use of the principles of Zen Buddhism in relation to the contemporary workplace and professional leadership issues. In addition to the book White Collar Zen: Using Zen Principles to Overcome Obstacles and Achieve Your Goal, the project also includes a course on Asian Cultural Values in Business, first taught in 2006, sponsored by the Eugenio Pino Entrepreneurship Center at Florida International University, as well as workshops and conferences.

Publications

Dogen Studies
  • A Blade of Grass: Japanese Poetry and Aesthetics in Dōgen Zen
  • Did Dōgen Go to China? What He Wrote and When He Wrote It?
  • Dōgen: Japan’s Original Zen Teacher
  • Dōgen and Sōtō Zen
  • Dōgen and the Kōan Tradition: A Tale of Two Shōbōgenzō Texts
  • Dōgen: Textual and Historical Studies
  • Existential and Ontological Dimensions of Time in Heidegger and Dōgen
  • Flowers Blooming on a Withered Tree: Giun’s Verse Comments on Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō
  • Readings in Dōgen’s Treasury of the True Dharma Eye
  • Wisdom Within Words: Translation with Comments of Dōgen’s Chinese Poetry
  • The Zen Poetry of Dōgen: Verses from the Mountain of Eternal Peace
History and Thought of Zen Buddhism
  • Approaches to Chan, Sŏn, and Zen Studies: Chinese Chan Buddhism and Its Spread throughout East Asia
  • Chan Rhetoric of Uncertainty in the Blue Cliff Record: Sharpening the Sword at the Dragon’s Gate
  • From Chinese Chan to Japanese Zen: A Remarkable Century of Transmission and Transformation
  • Like Cats and Dogs: Contesting the Mu Kōan in Zen Buddhism
  • Opening a Mountain: Kōans of the Zen Masters
  • Shifting Shape, Shaping Text: Philosophy and Folklore in the Fox Kōan
  • Zen and Material Culture
  • Zen Kōans
  • Zen Skin, Zen Marrow: Will the Real Zen Buddhism Please Stand Up?

    Asian Religion in Contemporary Culture: East & West

  • A Dream Within a Dream: Studies in Japanese Thought
  • Bargainin’ For Salvation: Bob Dylan, A Zen Master?
  • Buddhism in the Modern World: Adaptations of an Ancient Tradition
  • Japan in Traditional and Postmodern Perspectives
  • Sacred High City, Sacred Low City: A Tale of Religious Sites in Two Tokyo Neighborhoods
  • White Collar Zen: Using Zen Principles to Overcome Obstacles and Achieve Your Career Goals
  • Xuedou’s 100 Odes to Old Cases: A Translation with Commentary
Co-Edited Series with Dale S. Wright
  • The Kōan: Texts and Contexts in Zen Buddhism
  • The Zen Canon: Understanding the Classic Texts
  • Zen Classics: Formative Texts in the History of Zen Buddhism
  • Zen Ritual: Studies of Zen Buddhist Theory in Practice
  • Zen Masters

    Edited Books by Masao Abe

  • A Study of Dōgen: His Philosophy and Religion
  • Buddhism and Interfaith Dialogue
  • Zen and Comparative Studies
  • Zen and the Modern World: A Third Sequel to Zen and Western Thought

    Honors and awards

Heine is the recipient of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette for his contribution to Japanese Studies.
A festschrift - as a tribute to honor Heine's contributions in the field of studies on Zen Buddhism - was published in 2022, with contributions of many of his colleagues.