Shobogenzo: Meditation is done for practical reasons.

u/grass_skirt recently said that my understanding of Soto is incorrect. In order to establish better context, I'm reading parts of the Shobogenzo, this translation. It's 1,144 pages, so I'm probably not going to read most of it.

From what I can tell so far, it's possible to read anything you want into Dogen's words. If you think that he's saying that meditation is holy, it's possible to find quotes supporting that view. If you think that he's saying that meditation is just a practical affair, it's possible to find quotes supporting that view. Equally so for "there is something to attain" and "there is nothing to attain". You can't pin him down; his speeches are full of contradictions.

Here's an example of Dogen explicitly saying that his meditation is done for practical reasons:

You have now heard just how great and vast the virtues and spiritual merits of this seated meditation are.

However, someone who is befuddled by doubts may ask, “Since there are many gates into the Buddha’s Teachings, why bother to do just seated meditation?”

I would point out in response, “Because it is the proper and most straightforward entryway into what the Buddha taught.”

He may then ask, “Why is this the one and only proper and straightforward entryway?”

I would then point out, “Undoubtedly, the Venerable Great Master Shakyamuni Transmitted it directly as the most excellent method for realizing the Way, and Those who embody the Truth in the three temporal worlds, alike, have realized, do realize, and will realize the Way by doing seated meditation. Therefore, They pass it on generation after generation as the proper and most straightforward gate to the Dharma. Not only that, the Indian and Chinese Ancestors all realized the Way by doing seated meditation, which is why I have now indicated it to be the proper gate for those in both human and celestial worlds."