Dogen Quotes

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

A fool sees himself as another, but a wise man sees others as himself.

Students, when you want to say something, think about it three times before you say it. Speak only if your words will benefit yourselves and others. Do not speak if it brings no benefit.

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

There is a simple way to become buddha: When you refrain from unwholesome actions, are not attached to birth and death, and are compassionate toward all sentient beings, respectful to seniors and kind to juniors, not excluding or desiring anything, with no designing thoughts or worries, you will be called a buddha. Do not seek anything else.

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

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

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

If you want to travel the Way of Buddhas and Zen masters, then expect nothing, seek nothing, and grasp nothing.

To escape from the world means that one's mind is not concerned with the opinions of the world.

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.

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.

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.

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

To be in harmony with the wholeness of things is not to have anxiety over imperfections.

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.

Prefer to be defeated in the presence of the wise than to excel among fools.

Just practice good, do good for others, without thinking of making yourself known so that you may gain reward. Really bring benefit to others, gaining nothing for yourself. This is the primary requisite for breaking free of attachments to the Self.

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

IF YOU WOULD BE FREE OF GREED, FIRST YOU HAVE TO LEAVE EGOTISM BEHIND. THE BEST MENTAL EXERCISE FOR RELINQUISHING EGOTISM IS CONTEMPLATING IMPERMANENCE.

In the mundane, nothing is sacred. In sacredness, nothing is mundane.

What is reality? An icicle forming in fire.

We must always be disturbed by the truth.

No matter how bad a state of mind you may get into, if you keep strong and hold out, eventually the floating clouds must vanish and the withering wind must cease.

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.

Something you want badly enough can always be gained. No matter how fierce the enemy, how remote the beautiful lady, or how carefully guarded the treasure, there is always a means to the goal for the earnest seeker. The unseen help of the guardian gods of heaven and earth assure fulfillment.

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

Cease from practice based on intellectual understanding, pursuing words, and following after speech.

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

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.

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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.

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

People who truly follow the Way would do well to conceal the fact that they are Buddhists.

Look for Buddha outside your own mind, and Buddha becomes the devil.

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.

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

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

Whenever learners or those beyond learning awaken the mind, for the first time they plant one buddha-nature. Working with the four elements and five clusters, if they practice sincerely they attain enlightenment. Working with plants, trees, fences and walls, if they practice sincerely they will attain enlightenment. This is because the four elements and five clusters and plants, trees, fences and walls are fellow students; because they are of the same essence, because they are the same mind and the same life, because they are the same body and the same mechanism.

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

A zen master's life is one continuous mistake.

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

In the stream, Rushing past To the dusty world, My fleeting form Casts no reflection.

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.