Refraining from all evil, not clinging to birth and death, working in deep compassion for all sentient beings, respecting those over you and pitying those below you, without any detesting or desiring, worrying or lamentation – this is what is called Buddha. Do not search beyond it.
DOGENRealization 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.
More Dogen Quotes
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One must be deeply aware of the impermanence of the world.
DOGEN -
The recognition of the coming and going of things is a first step in training and practice.
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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 -
Those who practice know whether realization is attained or not, just as those who drink water know whether it is hot or cold
DOGEN -
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 -
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.”
DOGEN -
The coming and going of birth and death is a painting. Unsurpassed enlightenment is a painting. The entire phenomenal universe and the empty sky are nothing but a painting.
DOGEN -
To start from the self and try to understand all things is delusion. To let the self be awakened by all things is enlightenment.
DOGEN -
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 -
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.
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To study Buddhism is to study ourselves. To study ourselves is to forget ourselves.
DOGEN -
People like what is not true and they don’t like what is true.
DOGEN -
Look for Buddha outside your own mind, and Buddha becomes the devil.
DOGEN -
When you walk in the mist, you get wet.
DOGEN -
A zen master’s life is one continuous mistake.
DOGEN -
Time is three eyes and eight elbows.
DOGEN -
People who truly follow the Way would do well to conceal the fact that they are Buddhists.
DOGEN -
You should study not only that you become a mother when your child is born, but also that you become a child.
DOGEN -
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 -
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.
DOGEN -
Just as parents care for their children, you should bear in mind the whole universe.
DOGEN -
Your body is like a dew-drop on the morning grass, your life is as brief as a flash of lightning. Momentary and vain, it is lost in a moment.
DOGEN -
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.
DOGEN -
IF YOU WOULD BE FREE OF GREED, FIRST YOU HAVE TO LEAVE EGOTISM BEHIND. THE BEST MENTAL EXERCISE FOR RELINQUISHING EGOTISM IS CONTEMPLATING IMPERMANENCE.
DOGEN -
Cease from practice based on intellectual understanding, pursuing words, and following after speech.
DOGEN -
The true person is Not anyone in particular; But like the deep blue color Of the limitless sky, It is everyone, Everywhere in the world.
DOGEN