Steven Heine

Steven Heine (born 1950), is a scholar in the field of Zen Buddhist history and thought, particularly the life and teachings of Zen Master Dōgen (1200–1253). 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. The program also has an extensive outreach component. 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 (2005), 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 Dogen Zen (Peter Lang Publishing, 1989, ISBN 978-0-8204-0627-5)
 * A Study of Dogen: His Philosophy and Religion (SUNY, 1991, ISBN 978-0-7914-0838-4)
 * Dogen and the Koan Tradition: A Tale of Two Shobogenzo Texts (SUNY, 1993, ISBN 978-0-7914-1773-7)
 * Did Dogen Go to China? What He Wrote and When He Wrote It? (Oxford University Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-19-530592-0)
 * Dogen and Soto Zen (Oxford University Press, 2015, ISBN 978-0-1993-2486-6)
 * Dogen: Japan's Original Zen Teacher (Shambhala Publications, 2021, ISBN 978-1-6118-0980-0)

History and Thought of Zen Buddhism
 * Opening a Mountain: Koans of the Zen Masters (Oxford University Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0-19-517434-2)
 * White Collar Zen: Using Zen Principles to Overcome Obstacles and Achieve Your Goal (Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0-19-516003-1)
 * Like Cats and Dogs: Contesting the Mu Koan in Zen Buddhism (Oxford University Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-983730-4)
 * Chan Rhetoric of Uncertainty in the Blue Cliff Record: Sharpening the Sword at the Dragon's Gate (Oxford University Press, 2016, ISBN 978-01-9939777-8)
 * From Chinese Chan to Japanese Zen: A Remarkable Century of Transmission and Transformation (Oxford University Press, 2017, ISBN 978-01-9063749-1)

Asian Religion in Contemporary Culture: East & West
 * Bargainin' For Salvation: Bob Dylan, A Zen Master? (Continuum, 2009, ISBN 978-0-8264-2950-6)
 * Sacred High City, Sacred Low City: A Tale of Religious Sites in Two Tokyo Neighborhoods (Oxford University Press, 2011, ISBN 978-0-19-986144-6)

Co-Edited Series with Dale S. Wright
 * The Koan: Texts and Contexts in Zen Buddhism (Oxford University Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0-19511749-3)
 * Zen Masters (Oxford University Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-19-536765-2)

Honours 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 honour Heine's contributions in the field of studies on Zen Buddhism - was published in 2022, with contributions of many of his colleagues.