Top Highlights

• In a nutshell Dogen establishes four basic principles for Buddhist study.
• Bodhicitta means you have to regard the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth as your ultimate criterion or goal. You have to be willing to accept what is true, whether or not you like it. It’s way tougher than it sounds. The second principle is what he calls “deep belief in the rule of cause and effect.” Most of us don’t really believe...
• Dogen’s third principle is that our life is just action at the present moment. The past is nothing more than memory, and the future is nothing but dreams. At best, past and future are no more than reference material for the eternal now. The only real facts are those at the present moment.
• The world where we live is existence in the present moment.
• The final principle is the practice of zazen itself. Buddhism is not a philosophy you just read about. It is a philosophy you do. So the principles of Buddhism include actual action, which cannot be put into words. In Dogen’s view the best way to learn how to truly experience the world just as it is, is through the daily practice of zazen.