Therefore, you must stop comprehending the conduct of investigating words and chasing discourses. You must learn to step backward to turn your light … - Dōgen

From the nature of reality in our life experience at the present time, we say these sliding doors are new, or the ceiling is old. We imagine that this ceiling was made several decades or several centuries ago because of its present nature of appearing old. Yet in reality, only the present exists. The past and the future do not exist [separate from the present].

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.

Uchiyama Rōshi subtitled his interpretive translation and commentary of this important work Finsei Ryōri no Hon, or How to Cook Your Life. The word ryōri, the meaning of which to be sure includes the cooking and preparation of food, also has broader connotations. Ryōri may also be used in the sense of conducting or handling one’s affairs. The implication of this title is that the author tells us how we should go about conducting our lives and treating everything