Looking deeply into the writings and sutras of past teachers does not mean to learn something that is unrelated to us. Studying ancient writings means to study our lives. To study the Tenzo Kyōkun came to mean for me that I would be studying my own life.
Dōgen
Born: January 19, 1200 Died: September 22, 1253
Dōgen (道元; also Dōgen Kigen 道元希玄, Eihei Dōgen 永平道元, titled as Dōgen Zenji [Zen Master Dōgen] 道元禅師) (19 January 1200 – 22 September 1253) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist priest, writer, poet, philosopher born in Kyōto, and the founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan.
Biographical information from: Wikiquote
Alternative Names for Dōgen
Primary canonical name - The main standardized name:
- 道元 (Japanese (ja))
Transliteration - Phonetic conversion to another script:
- Dōgen Zenji (English (en))
- Eihei Dōgen (English (en))
- Dōgen Kigen (English (en))
Formal name - Full ceremonial or official name including titles and honorifics:
- 道元希玄 (Japanese (ja))
- 道元禅師 (Japanese (ja))
Religious name - Adopted name for religious purposes:
- 永平道元 (Japanese (ja))
Translation - Semantic translation of the name:
- Zen Master Dōgen (English (en))
When you paint Spring, do not paint willows, plums, peaches, or apricots, but just paint Spring. To paint willows, plums, peaches, or apricots is to paint willows, plums, peaches, or apricots - it is not yet painting Spring.
Enhance Your Quote Experience
Enjoy ad-free browsing, unlimited collections, and advanced search features with Premium.
Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.
Quoi qu'il en soit, les fleurs tombent malgré notre attachement et les mauvaises herbes poussent malgré notre aversion
This dew-like life will fade away; avoid involvement in superfluous things.
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.
Limited Time Offer
Premium members can get their quote collection automatically imported into their Quotosaurus collections.
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.
To study Buddhism is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to forget even one's attachment to the goal. Doing that, one discovers oneself in all things and enters actual society.
"[Question:] Should zazen be practiced by laymen and lay-women, or should it be practiced by home leavers alone?
[Dogen's answer:] The ancestors say, "In understanding buddha dharma, men and women, noble and common people are not distinguished.
You should stop searching for phrases and chasing after words. Take the backward step and turn the light inward. Your body-mind of itself will drop off and your original face will appear. If you want to attain just this, immediately practice just this.
shikan-taza (just doing zazen),
In general, when you are a beginner, you cannot fathom the buddha way. Your assumptions do not hit the mark. The fact that you cannot fathom the buddha way as a beginner means not that you lack ultimate understanding but that you do not recognize the deepest point.
Like the sun illuminating and refreshing the world, this sitting removes obscurities from the mind and lightens the body so that exhaustion is set aside.
You should study not only that you become a mother when your child is born, but also that you become a child.
Loving fame is worse than breaking a precept. Breaking a precept is a transgression at a particular time. Loving fame is like an ailment of a lifetime.