Dōgen Biography & Quotes

Source: The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

“It does not matter whether you are a layperson or a home leaver. Those who can discern excellence invariably come to trust in this practice.”

Trust

Book:The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

Source: The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

“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.”

Fame

Book:The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

Source: The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

“What is the fault of women? What is the virtue of men? There are unwholesome men, and there are wholesome women. The aspiration to hear dharma and leave the household does not depend on being female or male.”

Men Women

Book:The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

Source: The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

“If you vow for a long time not to look at women, do you leave out women when you vow to save numberless sentient beings? If you do so, you are not a bodhisattva. How can you call it the Buddha's compassion? This is merely nonsense spoken by a soaking-drunk shravaka. Humans and devas should not believe in such a practice.”

Women

Book:The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

Source: The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

“Nothing can be gained by extensive study and wide reading. Give them up immediately.”

Study Zen Let Go Give Up Studying

Book:A Primer of Soto Zen: A Translation of Dogen's Shobogenzo Zuimonki

Source: A Primer of Soto Zen: A Translation of Dogen's Shobogenzo Zuimonki

“It is taught that all buddhas in the past, present, and future leave the household and attain the way. The twenty-eight ancestors in India and the six early ancestors in China who transmitted the Buddha's mind seal were all monks. They are distinguished in the three realms by strictly observing the precepts. Thus precepts are primary for practicing Zen in pursuit of the way. How can one become a buddha ancestor without becoming free from faults and preventing wrongdoing?”

Zen Precepts

Book:The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

Source: The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

“Before one studies Zen, mountains are mountains and waters are waters; after a first glimpse into the truth of Zen, mountains are no longer mountains and waters are no longer waters; after enlightenment, mountains are once again mountains and waters once again waters.”

Awareness Buddhism Enlightenment Zen Present Moment

Author:Dōgen

“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.”

Zen Good And Evil Let Go Buddha Way

Book:A Primer of Soto Zen: A Translation of Dogen's Shobogenzo Zuimonki

Source: A Primer of Soto Zen: A Translation of Dogen's Shobogenzo Zuimonki

“As long as you try to figure out buddha dharma with mind, you can never attain it even for myriad eons or thousands of lifetimes. It is attained by letting go of the mind and abandoning views and interpretations.”

Mind Buddha Dharma

Book:The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

Source: The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

“Mind is skin, flesh, bones, and marrow. Mind is taking up a flower and smiling. There is having mind and having no mind. There is mind with a body and mind with no body. . . . Blue, yellow, red, and white are mind. Long, short, square, and round are mind. The coming and going of birth and death are mind. Year, month, day, and hour are mind. Dream, phantom, and empty flower are mind. Water, foam, splash, and flame are mind. Spring flowers and autumn moon are mind. All things that arise and fall are mind.”

Mind

Book:The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

Source: The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

“In stillness, mind and object merge in realization and go beyond enlightenment.”

Mind Object

Book:The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

Source: The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

“To study the way of enlightenment is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of enlightenment remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly.”

Self Enlightenment

Book:The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

Source: The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

“Mindful of the passing of time, engage yourself in zazen as though saving your head from fire.”

Zazen

Book:The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

Source: The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

“Zazen is not learning to do concentration. It is the dharma gate of great ease and joy. It is undivided practice-realization.”

Zazen

Book:The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

Source: The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

“[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.”

Zazen Buddha Dharma

Book:The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

Source: The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

“Firewood becomes ash, and it does not become firewood again.”

Ash Firewood

Book:The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

Source: The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master

Dōgen Biography

Related Quotes