Dōgen Quotes

Buddhas and Ancestors continuously maintain ocean mudra samadhi. While swimming in this samadhi, they expound, realize, practice.

Each moment is all being, each moment is the entire world. Reflect now whether any being or any world is left out of the present moment.

Know that the true dharma emerges of itself [during the practice of zazen], clearing away hindrances and distractions.

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

Beings, things, and events do not exist in time: being, things, and events are times.

If there are fish that would swim or birds that would fly only after investigating the entire ocean or sky, they would find neither path nor place.

If you are unable to find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?

Treading along in this dreamlike, illusory realm,
Without looking for the traces I may have left;
A cuckoo's song beckons me to return home;
Hearing this, I tilt my head to see
Who has told me to turn back;

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

Value the person you are right now, and the moments they are creating. Even if you become a Buddha in the future, you of the present will never be seen. It is just one time, one direction. If we think about it, what seems to be just an ordinary person's petty realm today is indeed very precious.

Therefore, you must stop comprehending the conduct of investigating words and chasing discourses. You must learn to step backward to turn your light around to reflect on yourself. Mind and body will naturally fall away and your original face will manifest itself. If you wish to attain suchness, devote yourself to suchness at once.

To enter the Buddha Way is to stop discriminating between good and evil and to cast aside the mind that says this is good and that is bad.

Be very clear about this: A fool sees himself as another, but a wise man sees others as himself.49 As an ancient teacher has said: Two-thirds of our days are already over, And we have not practiced clarifying who we are. We waste our days in chasing satisfaction, So that even when called, we refuse to turn around. How regrettable.50

To know yourself is to forget yourself.

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. (From 'Fukan zazengi')

The zazen I speak of is not learning meditation. It is simply the Dharma gate of repose and bliss, the practice-realization of totally culminated enlightenment. It is the manifestation of ultimate reality. Traps and snares can never reach it. Once its heart is grasped, you are like the dragon when he gains the water, like the tiger when she enters the mountain. For you must know that just there (in zazen) the right Dharma is manifesting itself and that, from the first, dullness and distraction are struck aside.