Dogen Quotes

If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?

Do not be amazed by the true dragon.

To study Buddhism is to study ourselves. To study ourselves is to forget ourselves.

Set aside all involvements and let the myriad things rest. Zazen is not thinking of good, not thinking of bad. It is not conscious endeavour. It is not introspection. Do not desire to become a buddha; let sitting or lying down drop away. Be moderate in eating and drinking. Be mindful of the passing of time, and engage yourself in zazen as though you are saving your head from fire.

I asked, "What are words?" The tenzo said, "One, two, three, four, five." I asked again, "What is practice?" "Nothing in the entire universe is hidden."

Zazen is an activity that is an extension of the universe. Zazen is not the life of an individual, it's the universe that's breathing.

The one and only thing required is to free oneself from the bondage of mind and body alike, putting the Buddha's own seal upon yourself. If you do this as you sit in ecstatic meditation, the whole universe itself scattered through the infinity of space turns into enlightenment. This is what I mean by the Buddha's seal.

Do not travel to other dusty lands, forsaking your own sitting place; if you cannot find the truth where you are now, you will never find it.

Life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken. Awaken. Take heed, do not squander your life.

Practice and enlightenment are not two.

If you want to do a certain thing, you first have to be a certain person. Once you become that certain person, you will not care anymore about doing that certain thing.

Meditation is not a way to enlightenment, Nor is it a method of achieving anything at all. It is peace itself. It is the actualization of wisdom, The ultimate truth of the oneness of all things.

To start from the self and try to understand all things is delusion. To let the self be awakened by all things is enlightenment.

Truth is not far away. It is nearer than near. There is no need to attain it, since not one of your steps leads away from it.

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.

Sitting is the gateway of truth to total liberation.

In doing zazen it is desirable to have a quiet room. You should be temperate in eating and drinking, forsaking all delusive relationships. Setting everything aside, think of neither good nor evil, right nor wrong. Thus having stopped the various functions of your mind, five up even the idea of becoming a Buddha.

Yet, though it is like this, simply, flowers fall amid our longing and weeds spring up amid our antipathy.

In a mind clear as still water, even the waves, breaking, are reflecting its light.

Let your heart go out and abide in things. Let things return and abide in your heart.

We must always be disturbed by the truth.

When both body and mind are at peace, all things appear as they are: perfect, complete, lacking nothing.

But do not ask me where I am going, As I travel in this limitless world, Where every step I take is my home.

In the assemblies of the enlightened ones there have been many cases of mastering the Way bringing forth the heart of plants and trees; this is what awakening the mind for enlightenment is like. The fifth patriarch of Zen was once a pine-planting wayfarer; Rinzai worked on planting cedars and pines on Mount Obaku. . . . Working with plants, trees, fences and walls, if they practice sincerely they will attain enlightenment.

Do no harmful actions, do not become attached to the cycle of death and rebirth, show kindness, respect the old and have compassion for the young, do not have a heart that rejects or a heart that covets and have no worry or sadness in your heart. This is what is called enlightenment. Do not seek it elsewhere.

Those who see worldly life as an obstacle to Dharma see no Dharma in everyday actions. They have not yet discovered that there are no everyday actions outside of Dharma.

Handle even a single leaf of green in such a way that it manifests the body of the Buddha. This in turn allows the Buddha to manifest through the leaf.

Coming, going, the waterbirds, don't leave a trace, don't follow a path.

Although its light is wide and great, the Moon is reflected in a puddle one inch wide. The whole Moon and the entire sky is reflected in one dew drop on the grass.

Why abandon a seat in your own home to wander in vain through dusty regions of another land? If you make one false step, you miss what is right before your eyes.

Does a dragon still sing from within a withered tree?

Do not miss the opportunity of offering even a single drop into the ocean of merit or a grain atop the mountain of the roots of beneficial activity.

Be moderate in eating and drinking. Mindful of the passing of time, engage yourself in zazen as though saving your head from fire.

There are those who, attracted by grass, flowers, mountains, and waters, flow into the Buddha Way.

Working with plants, trees, fences and walls, if they practice sincerely they will attain enlightenment.

That the self advances and confirms the ten thousand things is called delusion; that the ten thousand things advance and confirm the self is called enlightenment.

To study the Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self.

There are myriads of forms and hundreds of grasses throughout the entire earth, yet each grass and each form itself is the entire earth.

A zen master's life is one continuous mistake.

Do not practice buddha-dharma with the thought that it is to benefit others.

People like what is not true and they don't like what is true.