Dogen Quotes

Understand clearly that when a great need appears a great use appears also; when there is small need there is small use; it is obvious, then, that full use is made of all things at all times according to the necessity thereof.

If we look at the world with a deluded body and mind, we will think that our self is permanent. But if we practice correctly and return to our true self, we will realize that nothing is permanent

Do not view mountains from the scale of human thought.

Since we are provided with both a body and a mind, we grasp onto the physical forms we see. Since we are provided with both a body and a mind, we cling to the sounds we hear. As a consequence, we make ourselves inseparable from all things, yet we are not like some shadowy figure 'lodging' in a mirror or like the moon in water. Whenever we witness what is on the one side, its opposite side will be in darkness.

There is no beginning to practice nor end to enlightenment; There is no beginning to enlightenment nor end to practice.

If he cannot stop the mind that seeks after fame and profit, he will spend his life without finding peace.

Consider that nirvana is itself no other than our life.

If you want to see things just as they are, then you yourself must practice just as you are.

What is the way of the Buddha? It is to study the self. What is the study of the self? It is to forget oneself. To forget oneself is to enlightened by everything in the world.

Emptiness is bound to bloom, like hundreds of grasses blossoming.

Mountains and rivers at this very moment are the actualization of the world of the ancient Buddhas. Each, abiding in its phenomenal expression, realizes completeness.

Forgetting oneself is opening oneself

When the old plum tree blooms, the entire world blooms.

Every man possesses the Buddha-nature. Do not demean yourselves.

Time is three eyes and eight elbows.

Since it is the practice of enlightenment, that practice has no beginning and since it is enlightenment within the practice, that realization has no end.

Those who seek the easy way do not seek the true way.

An ancient buddha said, “Mountains are mountains; waters are waters.” These words do not mean mountains are mountains; they mean mountains are mountains.

I haven't got any Buddhism. I live by letting things happen.

What is reality? An icicle forming in fire.

Life and death are nothing but the mind. Years, months, days, and hours are nothing but the mind. Dreams, illusions, and mirages are nothing but the mind. The bubbles of water and the flames of fire are nothing but the mind. The flowers of the spring and the moon of the autumn are nothing but the mind. Confusions and dangers are nothing but the mind.

A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it.

When we discover that the truth is already in us, we are all at once our original selves.

Mountains and oceans have whole worlds of innumerable wondrous features. We should understand that it is not only our distant surroundings that are like this, but even what is right here, even a single drop of water.

You should study not only that you become a mother when your child is born, but also that you become a child.

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

If we seek the Buddha outside the mind, the Buddha changes into a devil.

Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself. Your body and mind will become clear and you will realize the unity of all things.

When one first seeks the truth, one separates oneself from it.

That you carry yourself forward and experience the myriad things is delusion. That the myriad things come forward and experience themselves is awakening

Students today should live fully every moment of time. This dew-like life fades away; time speeds swiftly. In this short life of ours, avoid involvement in superfluous things and just study the Way.

If you do not get it from yourself, where will you go for it?

Clearly I know, the mind is mountains, rivers, and the great earth; sun, moon, and stars.

You should stop searching for phrases and chasing after words. Take the backward step and turn the light inward. Your body-mind of itself will drop off and your original face will appear. If you want to attain just this, immediately practice just this.

Through one word, or seven words, or three times five, even if you investigate thoroughly myriad forms, nothing can be depended upon. Night advances, the moon glows and falls into the ocean. The black dragon jewel you have been searching for, is everywhere.

One must be deeply aware of the impermanence of the world.

Though it has no thought of keeping watch, it's not for naught that the scarecrow stands in the grain field.

There are mountains hidden in mountains. There are mountains hidden in hiddenness. This is complete understanding.

Just as parents care for their children, you should bear in mind the whole universe.

Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenment.

The recognition of the coming and going of things is a first step in training and practice.

There are thousands upon thousands of students who have practiced meditation and obtained its fruits. Do not doubt its possibilities because of the simplicity of the method. If you can not find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?

Studying the Buddha way is studying oneself. Studying oneself is forgetting oneself. Forgetting oneself is being enlightened by all things. Being enlightened by all things is to shed the body-mind of oneself, and those of others. No trace of enlightenment remains, and this traceless enlightenment continues endlessly.

Continuous practice, day after day, is the most appropriate way of expressing gratitude. This means that you practice continuously, without wasting a single day of your life, without using it for your own sake. Why is it so? Your life is a fortunate outcome of the continuous practice of the past. You should express your gratitude immediately.

Realization doesn't destroy the individual any more than the reflection of the moon breaks a drop of water. A drop of water can reflect the whole sky.

What you think in your own mind to be good, or what people of the world think is good, is not necessarily good.

To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand things.

A fish swims in the ocean, and no matter how far it swims there is no end to the water. A bird flies in the sky, and no matter how far it flies there is no end to the air. However the fish and the bird have never left their elements. Thus each of them totally covers its full range, and each of them totally experiences its realm... Know that water is life and air is life. The bird is life and the fish is life. Life must be the bird and life must be the fish... practice, enlightenment and people are like this.