To paraphrase Professor Hustwitt, to model Buddhism as a discrete and homogenous thing is a useful fiction. The Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, and Gulf of Mexico are separately named, but these are not discrete bodies of water. For me what happens where the Atlantic meets the Gulf of Mexico in religion. What happens when Zen lands in North America is the story of my life.
Dogen would return to Japan and while he professed a nonsectarian Zen, in fact he called what he taught simply “the Buddha way,” he is acknowledged as the founder of the Japanese Caodong school, using the Japanese pronunciation, Soto. He was a prolific writer and some of his writings are considered among the great spiritual treasures of world culture.