To Discipline or to Forget: A Sufi-Zen Comparative Analysis of the Self
Dr Saeko Yazaki, University of Glasgow 

https://ucl.zoom.us/j/99912738606
Meeting ID: 999 1273 8606

Despite their geographical and cultural distance, Sufism and Zen share a number of theories and practices, including a concern with lived experience. This talk analyses the basis of their teachings, namely, the idea of the self, in texts by two important figures in the respective traditions, The Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya’ ‘ulum al-dīn) by Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 1111) for Sufism, and The Treasury of the True Dharma-Eye (Shobogenzo) by Dogen (d. 1253) for Zen. Al-Ghazali emphasises the necessity of disciplining the self (nafs) in order for the heart to remember God only, while Dogen famously asserts the importance of learning and forgetting the self (jiko) in the way of the Buddha. This paper first examines al-Ghazali’s and Dogen’s views of the self, and then compares their teachings. Al-Ghazali and Dogen have been contrasted with a number of figures, mainly Jewish and Christian theologians and European philosophers, but not with each other. The juxtaposition of the two masterpieces reveals striking similarities as well as fundamental differences at both doctrinal and practical levels and highlights contrasting perceptions of the self, its ethical and social implications, as well as the connection between the intellect and faith.

Dr Saeko Yazaki is Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies, University of Glasgow. After graduating with a PhD in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Edinburgh in 2010, she held the post of Outreach and Project Manager, then Research Associate at the Centre of Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge. At the end of 2012, in order to carry out more multidisciplinary work, she took up a position at the University of Glasgow. Her current interests revolve around mysticism, faith and sustainability, cross-cultural interactions, in particular Jewish-Muslim relations, and the globalisation of Japanese traditions. Her publications include Islamic Mysticism and Abu Talib al-Makki (2013), ‘Muslim-Jewish relations in the Duties of Hearts’ (2017), La chronique japonaise de Nicolas Bouvier (co-authored, 2018), ‘The Islamic Manuscript Collection of A.S. Yahuda in Princeton University Library’ (2022), as well as Sufism and Zen in the West (co-edited, 2025).

For further information, or interest in joining PESF, please contact: qasir.shah.14@ucl.ac.uk