Dogen Zenji

You should study not only that you become a mother when your child is born, but also that you become a child.

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

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

To study Buddhism is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be awakened by all things.

I come to realize that mind is no other than mountains and rivers and the great wide earth, the sun and the moon and stars.

Zazen is an activity that is an extension of the universe. Zazen is not the life of an individual, it’s the universe that’s breathing.

A man who is good enough to go to heaven is not good enough to be a clergyman.

Before enlightnment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightnment, chop wood, carry water.

The less you respond to negative people, the more peaceful your life will become.

Heaven and earth and I are of the same root, The ten-thousand things and I are of one substance.

The valley stream’s rushing sound is the eloquent tongue of Buddha. The mountain’s vibrant colours are nothing but the Buddha’s form.

Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.

Which is it, is man one of God’s blunders or is God one of man’s?

Death is the solution to all problems. No man – no problem.

Learning Zen is a phenomenon of gold & dung. Before you learn it, it’s like gold; after you learn it, it’s like dung.

I would like to believe there is a God, but I think it is better to say I’m not sure there is a God and live your life with kindness and respect for people than to say I know there is a God and then do bad things,

You can do very little with faith, but you can do nothing without it.

The Buddhist notion of diligence is to delight in positive deeds.

What is faith but a kind of betting or speculation after all? It should be, I bet that my Redeemer liveth.

If God would have wanted us to live in a permissive society He would have given us Ten Suggestions and not Ten Commandments.

Our God is a forgiving God.