Dogen Zenji

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.

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

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.

[on enlightenment] Body and mind dropped off.

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.

In a mind clear as still water, even the waves, breaking, are reflecting its light.

There’s nothing written in the Bible, Old or New testament, that says, If you believe in Me, you ain’t going to have no troubles.

We are desire. It is the essence of the human Soul, the secret of our existence. Absolutely nothing of human greatness is ever accomplished without it. Not a symphony has been written, a mountain climbed, an injustice fought, or a love sustained apart from desire. Desire fuels our search for the life we prize. – John Elderidge

With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.

God cannot alter the past, though historians can.

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

I adopted the theory of reincarnation when I was 26. I got the idea from a book by Orlando Smith. Until I discovered this theory I was unsettled and dissatisfied-without a compass, so to speak. When I discovered reincarnation it was as if I had found a universal plan. I realized that there was a chance to work out my ideas. Time was no longer limited. I was no longer a slave to the hands of the clock. There was time enough to plan and to create. I wouldn’t give five cents for seeing all the world, because I feel there is nothing in the five continents and on the five seas that I have not somehow seen. Somewhere is a master mind sending brain wave messages to us. There is a Great Spirit. I never did anything by my own volition. I was pushed by invisible forces within and without me. We inherit a native knowledge from a previous existence. Gospel of reincarnation is essence of all knowledge. I do not know where we come from or go to but we accumulate experience. Someday it will be possible to measure the soul. We all retain memories of past lives.

Methuselah lived to be 969 years old . You boys and girls will see more in the next fifty years than Methuselah saw in his whole lifetime.

In the end, only three things matter: How much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.

It’s not about approving or liking, but just being able to allow the world to be the way it is without resenting, hating, or judging it.

The Bible may be the truth, but it is not the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

I’m essentially agnostic. I don’t have a problem with God. I have a problem with religion. I’ve chosen to live my life without the certainties of religious faith. I think they’re dangerous. Music is something that gives my life value and spiritual solace.

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

Well, I don’t know, but I’ve been told the streets in heaven are lined with gold. I ask you how things could get much worse if the Russians happen to get up there first; Wowee! pretty scary!

When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice. The Bible tells us, ‘How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.

The ordinary mind is the way.