How to Cook Your Life Quotes

“A fool sees himself as another, but a wise man sees others as himself.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“Handle even a single leaf of a green in such a way that it manifests the body of the Buddha. This in turn allows the Buddha to manifests through the leaf. This is a power which you cannot grasp with your rational mind. It operates freely, according to the situation, in a most natural way.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“thing, or who changes his speech or manner according to the appearance or position of the people he meets, is not a man working in the Way.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“The many rivers which flow into the ocean become the one taste of the ocean; when they flow into the pure ocean of the dharma there are no such distinctions as delicacies or plain food, there is just one taste, and it is the buddhadharma, the world itself as it is. In cultivating the germ of aspiration to live out the Way, as well as in practicing the dharma, delicious and ordinary tastes are the same and not two. There is an old saying, “The mouth of a monk is like an oven.”45 Remember this well.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“when any action in our day-to-day life is motivated by some expectant result, or by what only appears to be a real condition or circumstance in our life, that expectant result is very likely to be dashed to pieces.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“as long as there is a hope or expectation of some result to be derived from zazen, then zazen is tainted.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“When looking at the cup, you see it with your eyes, from your angle, and with your vision, while I see it with my eyes, from my angle, and with my power of vision. There is no possibility of exchanging even our separate ways of looking at a cup. None of your personal experiences can ever be the same as anyone else’s. More so, then, is your way of thinking bound to be different from everyone else’s. When you are born, your world is born with you, and when you die, so dies your entire world. Your true Self includes the entire world you live in, and in this world there is no possibility of exchange.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“See the pot as your own head; see the water as your lifeblood.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“Whether you are the head of a temple, a senior monk or other officer, or simply an ordinary monk, do not forget the attitude behind living out your life with joy, having the deep concern of a parent, and carrying out all your activities with magnanimity. Written by Dōgen in the spring of 1237 at Kōshō-ji for followers of the Way in succeeding generations.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“Do not get carried away by the sounds of spring, nor become heavy-hearted upon seeing the colors of fall.62 View the changes of the seasons as a whole, and weigh the relativeness of light and heavy from a broad perspective. It is then that you should write, understand,”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“Magnanimous Mind61 is like a mountain, stable and impartial. Exemplifying the ocean, it is tolerant and views everything from the broadest perspective. Having a Magnanimous Mind means being without prejudice and refusing to take sides.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“What is the significance of this? It was simply a demonstration of Parental Mind. The Tathagata did not do this in expectation of some reward or fame. He did it unconditionally, without thought of profit or gain.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“Actually, when working in any position of responsibility, not only as tenzo, but as any officer or assistant, strive to maintain a spirit of joy and magnanimity, along with the caring attitude of a parent.57”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“Not to encounter a true teacher will result in being led around by your feelings and emotions. The case of the foolish son of a wealthy man leaving home with the family treasure and throwing it away like so much rubbish is truly a pathetic one.51 Likewise, to the extent that we are familiar with what the work of the tenzo is we must not squander it.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“Be very clear about this: A fool sees himself as another, but a wise man sees others as himself.49 As an ancient teacher has said: Two-thirds of our days are already over, And we have not practiced clarifying who we are. We waste our days in chasing satisfaction, So that even when called, we refuse to turn around. How regrettable.50”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“maintained and exhibited the same attitude as the head of the community, applying that attitude appropriately to the time and circumstances. The three aspects of this attitude are to see that working for the benefit of others benefits oneself; to understand that through making every effort for the prosperity of the community one revitalizes one’s own character; and to know that endeavoring to succeed and to surpass the patriarchs of past generations means to learn from their lives and to value their examples.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“Looking deeply into the writings and sutras of past teachers does not mean to learn something that is unrelated to us. Studying ancient writings means to study our lives. To study the Tenzo Kyōkun came to mean for me that I would be studying my own life.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“Uchiyama Rōshi helped me a great deal in not allowing me to use zazen as an escape. He said, “You must know that behind zazen are the teachings of Buddhism, and behind them, your own life experience.” These words went a long way in clarifying for me a passage in the Shōbō-genzō: Genjō Kōan (Actualizing the Koan): “To study Buddhism is to study the Self.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“Uchiyama Rōshi subtitled his interpretive translation and commentary of this important work Finsei Ryōri no Hon, or How to Cook Your Life. The word ryōri, the meaning of which to be sure includes the cooking and preparation of food, also has broader connotations. Ryōri may also be used in the sense of conducting or handling one’s affairs. The implication of this title is that the author tells us how we should go about conducting our lives and treating everything”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“Such a practice requires exerting all your energies.5 If a man entrusted with this work lacks such a spirit, then he will only endure unnecessary hardships and suffering that will have no value in his pursuit of the Way.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“drinking, being. The practical problem in this way of thinking is that all too often people simply wind up doing less and less zazen, deluding themselves into believing that since all their activities are zazen there is no need to sit and face the wall and do zazen.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“On the other hand, there is another trap that people can and often do fall into, and that is the one of thinking that we must practice zazen in all of our day-to-day activities. The obvious next step in this way of thinking is to equate all of one’s activities with zazen. That is, everything one does is zazen―eating, sleeping,”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“However, the reader should not get the idea that here I am comparing zazen with the rest of our day-to-day activities. To do so would be to fall into the trap that many practitioners fall into of clinging to the idea that practicing zazen is most important; therefore, one should practice it twenty-four hours a day. The error here is in taking literally the idea of zazen being the most important activity in our life as opposed to all our other activities.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“At the time Dōgen Zenji was writing the Tenzo Kyōkun, he had already left Kennin-ji in Kyoto, and had set up his own monastery at Kōshō-ji in Fukakusa, just south of the city. At Kōshō-ji, Dōgen gained a reputation for being a strict teacher, and the number of disciples and followers increased rapidly. Hence, it was only natural that some sort of regulations be established to insure that everyone could practice with as few difficulties as possible. These regulations were born out of the situation as it developed.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“Dōgen says here that to study Buddhism means to study one’s Self; to learn Buddhism is to learn one’s Self.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“Shōbō-genzō: Genjō Kōan (Actualizing the Koan):”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“Sawaki Rōshi also used to say frequently, “Just sit―that’s all there is,” and “No matter how many years you sit doing zazen, you will never become anything special.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“I was also told that the Eihei Daishingi (Regulations for Eiheiji Monastery), of which the Tenzo Kyōkun is the first chapter, was one of the easier works of Dōgen, since it deals with practical matters.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“Uchiyama Rōshi used to say again and again that loss is enlightenment, gain is illusion.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

“For example, when you are asked what the sun is like by a person who was born blind, you might give him a metal basin to enable him to understand that the shape of the sun is round saying, ‘The sun is like this.’ The man may hit the basin and reply, ‘Aha! The sun makes a good sound.’ You have to be very careful not to misinterpret analogies or you will go astray.” In other words, we have to be careful not to stick our heads too far into the example and lose sight of the point which is being made.”
― Dōgen, How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment