Dogen Shōbōgenzō quotes

Dogen Zenji (1200-1253)

All quotes from Gudo Wafu Nishijima and Chodo Cross edition (book 1 of 8) BDK English Tripiṭaka Series version of Shōbōgenzō. Chapter 1: Bendōwa

"This Dharma is abundantly present in each human being, but if we do not practice it, it does not man- ifest itself, and if we do not experience it, it cannot be realized." (p. 3)

"After the initial meeting with a [good] counselor we never again need to burn incense, to do prostrations, to recite Buddha’s name, to practice confession, or to read sutras. Just sit and get the state that is free of body and mind." (p. 5)

"The grass, trees, soil, and earth reached by this guiding influence all radiate great brightness, and their preaching of the deep and fine Dharma is without end. Grass, trees, fences, and walls become able to preach for all souls, [both] common people and saints; and conversely, all souls, [both] common people and saints, preach for grass, trees, fences, and walls." (p. 7)

"Those who chant endlessly are like frogs in a spring paddy field, croaking day and night. In the end it is all useless." (p. 9)

"The mind that craves gain is very deep, and so it must have been present in the ancient past." (p. 9)

"Just remember, when a practitioner directly follows a master who has attained the truth and clarified the mind, and when the practitioner matches that mind and experiences and understands it, and thus receives the authentic transmission of the subtle Dharma of the Seven Buddhas, then the exact teaching appears clearly and is received and maintained. This is beyond the comprehension of Dharma teachers who study words." (p.9)

"Remember, among Buddhists we do not argue about superiority and inferiority of philosophies, or choose between shallowness and profundity in the Dharma; we need only know whether the practice is genuine or artificial." (p. 9)

"...we are prone to beget random intellectual ideas, and because we chase after these as if they were real things, we vainly pass by the great state of truth." (p. 10)

"At the same time, because we cannot perceive it directly,60 we are prone to beget random intellectual ideas, and because we chase after these as if they were real things, we vainly pass by the great state of truth. From these intellectual ideas emerge all sorts of flowers in space: we think about the twelvefold cycle62 and the twenty-five spheres of existence; and ideas of the three vehicles and the five vehicles or of having buddha[-nature] and not having buddha[-nature] are endless." (p. 10)

If you google "flowers in space" you get a picture of all the flowers they have grown in space. In 1253 when Dogen died and Shobogenzo was published, I wonder how much they imagined space travel. 

I think about space when I read "holding to nothing whatever," when I'm reading the Heart Sutra. I could get getting anxious when there's no gravity, but you evolve past that disorienting feelings in the spiritual life.

Another fun fact is that the Sobogenzo was written in Japanese, not Chinese, which most of the texts, even in Japan, were written in at the time. 

Dogen seems to be against chanting, reciting sutras, studying abstruse or fanciful doctrines. He's just for sitting endlessly in meditation. So far, 10 pages in.