Dōgen
1200 – 1253 · 53 years · Eihei-ji · Asia
Founder of Japanese Soto Zen: enlightenment is not a goal to reach but is expressed in the practice of seated meditation (zazen) itself. Author of the Shōbōgenzō.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 13th century
Portrait: Shii · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Contemporaries around the world
Europe
- Frederick II — "Wonder of the World", polyglot emperor who regained Jerusalem without a fight, 6 years older
- Saint Louis (Louis IX) — crusader king canonised as a saint, 14 years younger
- Rudolf I — first Habsburg king, who won Austria for his house, 18 years younger
- Thomas Aquinas — theologian and philosopher, 25 years younger
- Francis of Assisi — saint, founder of the Franciscans, 18 years older
- Philip II Augustus — king who took Normandy from the Plantagenets, 35 years older
Eastern Europe & Russia
- Alexander Nevsky — Prince of Novgorod, Grand Prince, 21 years younger
- Vsevolod the Big Nest — grand prince under whom Vladimir became the strongest power in Rus, 46 years older
- Yaroslav II of Vladimir — first Russian prince to receive a patent to rule from the Horde, 9 years older
- Yuri II of Vladimir — grand prince of Vladimir killed fighting the Mongols on the Sit, 11 years older
Middle East
- Rumi — Sufi poet, 7 years younger
- Tamar of Georgia — Queen of Georgia, 34 years older
Africa
- Sundiata Keita — founder of the Mali Empire, 17 years younger
Asia
- Kublai Khan — Great Khan, founder of the Yuan dynasty, 15 years younger
- Genghis Khan — founder of the Mongol Empire, 38 years older
- Razia Sultana — Sultan of Delhi, 5 years younger
- Jayavarman VII — King of the Khmer Empire, 78 years older
The world in their lifetime
- 1202 Fibonacci's Liber Abaci — aged 2, Europe
- 1204 Sack of Constantinople — aged 4, Europe
- 1206 Temüjin proclaimed Genghis Khan — aged 6, Asia
- 1206 Founding of the Delhi Sultanate — aged 6, Asia
- 1215 Magna Carta — aged 15, Europe
- 1219 The Mongols invade Khwarazm — aged 19, Asia
- 1223 Battle of the Kalka River — aged 23, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1237–1240 Mongol invasion of Rus' — aged 37, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1240 Batu Khan takes Kiev — aged 40, Eastern Europe & Russia
- c. 1242 The Golden Horde is founded — aged 42, Eastern Europe & Russia
- c. 1250 The moai of Easter Island — aged 50, Oceania
- c. 1251 The Tripitaka Koreana — aged 51, Asia