Dogen Zenji

One must be deeply aware of the impermanence of the world.

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

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

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

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

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.

Outside the kingdom of the Lord there is no nation which is greater than any other. God and history will remember your judgment.

When the student is ready the teacher will appear.

God almighty first planted a garden: and, indeed, it is the purest of human pleasure.

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.

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

The voice of the Lord is the voice of common sense, which is shared by all that is.

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

It is easy to believe we are each waves and forget we are also the ocean.

Of all religions, the Christian should of course inspire the most tolerance, but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.

We all die unhealed

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

An intelligent hell would be better than a stupid paradise.

One must be deeply aware of the impermanence of the world.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought.

Being neededdoes not entail selfish pride or unhealthy attachment to the worldly esteem of others. Rather, it consists of a natural human hunger to serve our fellow men and women.