Can the "Senika heresy" be useful?

The Rhetoric of Immediacy: A Cultural Critique of Chan/Zen Buddhism By Bernard Faure p60 (I've not read this book) links it to linji ("the true man without affairs") Wiki says > In his later years Dōgen often severely criticized the Senika heresy > (sennigedo), which is the erroneous view that the mind abides while > the form perishes. According to this view, there is a bright spiritual > intelligence contained in our body that is the source of > self-understanding. When the body dies, the spiritual intelligence > alone does not perish but abides immutably. This view, Dōgen argues, > when "hearing of the doctrine of this very mind (itself is buddha), > takes it to mean that the discriminating knowledge of sentient beings > is itself the buddha" > > Dōgen (c. 1230-50) as cited in Masao Abe, Steven Heine (1992) A Study of Dōgen: His Philosophy and Religion. p. 158 > The Senika heresy here mentioned is a Buddhist believe in eternalism of the self. I'm interested, then, in whether it's only really a heresy in Soto Buddhism, and other traditions might find it useful. I think it may be a useful fiction, which is why I ask.