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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.

Dogen

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.
DOGEN

Dusty Land never Place Sitting Travel Truth
Emptiness is bound to bloom, like hundreds of grasses blossoming.
DOGEN

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

Ask Go Home Travel World
The recognition of the coming and going of things is a first step in training and practice.
DOGEN

Coem First Go Practice Recognition Step Training
A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it.
DOGEN

Buddhist Flower Grow Love War Weed
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.
DOGEN

Inch Life Light Moon Puddle Reflect Wide
There is no beginning to practice nor end to enlightenment; There is no beginning to enlightenment nor end to practice.
DOGEN

Beginning End Enlightenment No Practice
What is reality? An icicle forming in fire.
DOGEN

Fire Form Reality
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?
DOGEN

Doubt Meditation Possibility Simplicity Student Thousand Truth
What you think in your own mind to be good, or what people of the world think is good, is not necessarily good.
DOGEN

Good Mind Necessary People Thinking
To study Buddhism is to study ourselves. To study ourselves is to forget ourselves.
DOGEN

Buddhism Buddhist Life Ourselves Space Study
When one first seeks the truth, one separates oneself from it.
DOGEN

First Oneself Path Seek Separate Truth
Yet you must not cling to the words of the old sages either; they, too, may not be right. Even if you believe them, you should be alert so that, in the event that something superior comes along, you may follow that.
DOGEN

Alert Believe Either Events Right Sage Word
The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.
DOGEN

Dewdrop Moon Reflect Relaxation Sky
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.
DOGEN

Buddha Forget Oneself Self Study Way World
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.
DOGEN

Dew Discipline Every Fully Life Moment Short Student Time

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.

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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.

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Popular Authors

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