Study Hall - Shobogenzo

'Receiving the Marrow by Bowing' ('Raihai Tokuzui') is a rightly well-known fascicle. Dogen begins by talking about the necessity and value of having on authentic teacher, the meaning of the title being that if you are ready to bow to an authentic teacher, you will be in a position to receive the true teaching. He points to the need not to be stuck in heirarchies of age or position - quoting Zhaozhou, who famously said "I will ask about dharma of anyone who surpasses me, even a seven-year-old. I will teach anyone who is behind me, even a one-hundred-year-old.
The fascicle is well-known because Dogen takes this premise, and, again quoting stories from China, uses it to promote the equality of the sexes in the realm of practice:
"One who has attained dharma is a true authentic buddha and should not be regarded as the same as before. When we see the person, someone who is new and extraordinary sees us. When we see the person, today sees today...Why are men special? Emptiness is emptiness. Four great elements are four great elements. Five skandhas are five skandhas. Women are just like that. Both men and women attain the way. You should honor attainment of the way. Do not discriminate between men and women. This is the most wondrous principle of the way...
Those who are extremely stupid think that women are merely the objects of sexual desire and treat women in this way. The Buddha's children should not be like this. If we discriminate against women because we see them merely as objects of sexual desire, do we also discriminate against all men for the same reason?...
When you see an object, learn to clarify it. Being scared of it and only trying to avoid it is the teaching and practice of shravakas in the Lesser Vehicle. If you give up in the east and hide in the west, it is not that there is no object in the west. Even if you keep escaping, there are objects afar and objects nearby. This is not the way of emancipation. The farther away you push objects, the deeper you may be attached to them".
It is only unfortunate that this appears so radical to us today because we haven't really made so much progress in this realm in the last seven hundred years.