Abstract In this article, I hope to suggest (1) a fertile ground for human rights and social ethics within Japanese intellec-tual history and (2) a possible angle for connecting Dōgen‖s ethical views with his views on private religious practice. I begin with a review of the attempts to found the notion of rights within Buddhism. I focus on two well-argued attempts: Damien Keown‖s foundation of rights on the Four Noble Truths and individual soteriology and Jay Garfield‖s foundation of rights on the compassionate drive to liberate others. I then fuse these two approaches in a single concept: Buddha-nature. I analyze Dōgen‖s own view on the practice-realization of Buddha-nature, and the equation of Buddha-nature with being, time, empti-ness, and impermanence. I end with tentative suggestions concerning how Dōgen‖s particular view on Buddha-nature might affect any social ethics or view of rights that is founded on it.