Be moderate in eating and drinking. Mindful of the passing of time, engage yourself in zazen as though saving your head from fire.
DogenRead
One must be deeply aware of the impermanence of the world.
Interpretation
Awareness of impermanence can lead to deeper insights about life.
Dogen's quote emphasizes the importance of recognizing that everything in the world is transient and subject to change. This awareness can provoke profound reflections on the nature of existence, encouraging us to appreciate the present moment and find meaning in our experiences before they inevitably transform or fade away.
In practice
During a mindfulness workshop, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of living in the moment.
Be moderate in eating and drinking. Mindful of the passing of time, engage yourself in zazen as though saving your head from fire.
In the assemblies of the enlightened ones there have been many cases of mastering the Way bringing forth the heart of plants and trees; this is what awakening the mind for enlightenment is like. The fifth patriarch of Zen was once a pine-planting wayfarer; Rinzai worked on planting cedars and pines on Mount Obaku. . . . Working with plants, trees, fences and walls, if they practice sincerely they will attain enlightenment.
To start from the self and try to understand all things is delusion. To let the self be awakened by all things is enlightenment.
A fool sees himself as another, but a wise man sees others as himself.
Do not travel to other dusty lands, forsaking your own sitting place; if you cannot find the truth where you are now, you will never find it.
Do no harmful actions, do not become attached to the cycle of death and rebirth, show kindness, respect the old and have compassion for the young, do not have a heart that rejects or a heart that covets and have no worry or sadness in your heart. This is what is called enlightenment. Do not seek it elsewhere.
There is no mode of action, no form of emotion, that we do not share with the lower animals. It is only by language that we rise above them.
Come Judgment Day, we may find that Mumbo Jumbo the God of the Congo was the Big Boss all along.
ALL IMPULSES OF THOUGHT HAVE A TENDENCY TO CLOTHE THEMSELVES IN THEIR PHYSICAL EQUIVALENT.
I only wish that ordinary people had an unlimited capacity for doing harm; then they might have an unlimited power for doing good.
We have triumphed in the effort to implant hope in the breasts of the millions of our people. We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity β a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.
An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others.
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