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Dogen: Two Poems
Dogen Zenji (1200 – 1253 CE) was a Japanese Buddhist monk, teacher and poet. His mother is said to have died when he was seven, and around the age of 13 he entered a Zen monastery. In his early twenties he journeyed to China, searching to resolve a fundamental spiritual uncertainty. There he met a teacher who helped him to enlightenment, and after five years he returned to Japan, where he ultimately founded the Soto school of Zen.
Learn the backward step
that turns your light inward
to illuminate your self.
Body and mind of themselves
will drop away,
and your original face will be manifest.
* * *
Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water.
The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.
Although its light is wide and great,
The moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide.
The whole moon and the entire sky
Are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.