Eihei Dogen: True person manifest throughout the ten quarters of the world

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True person manifest throughout the ten quarters of the world

Eihei Dogen, Eihei Dogen poetry, Buddhist, Buddhist poetry, Zen / Chan poetry, [TRADITION SUB2] poetry, poetry

by Eihei Dogen
(1200 - 1253) Timeline

English version by
Steven Heine

Original Language
Japanese

The true person is
Not anyone in particular;
But, like the deep blue color
Of the limitless sky,
It is everyone, everywhere in the world.

-- from The Zen Poetry of Dogen: Verses from the Mountain of Eternal Peace, by Steven Heine

Amazon.com

/ Photo by Alejandra Mavroski /

Themes

Sky

Recommended Books

	The Poetry of Zen: (Shambhala Library), Edited by Sam Hamill / Edited by J. P. Seaton
	The Soul is Here for its Own Joy: Sacred Poems from Many Cultures, Edited by Robert Bly
	The Zen Poetry of Dogen: Verses from the Mountain of Eternal Peace, by Steven Heine
	Zen Poetry: Let the Spring Breeze Enter, Translated by Lucien Stryk / Translated by Takashi Ikemoto

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It's been too long since our last selection by Dogen Zenji.

True to Zen form, Dogen cuts right to the essential here.

Look for the true person deeply enough, and we find it. We find it in ourselves. But not in ourselves in a particular way. It is not in oneself while absent in another. We are quietly startled to discover that this true person is not contained by our skin. It does not stop at the edges of our lives. It does not even restrict itself to the borders of our far-flung thoughts. No, it flows out in all directions, utterly heedless of walls and distances and the greedy human mind.

But, like the deep blue color
Of the limitless sky,
It is everyone, everywhere in the world.

Find that one. Not only will you have found the true person, you will have discovered your very self spread out across existence!

Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World