Q0467

Dōgen

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

To carry the self forward and practice the myriad things is delusion; for the myriad things to come forth and practice the self is enlightenment.
Thinker Dōgen
School Sōtō Zen
Source Shōbōgenzō, Genjōkōan
Theme Awakening
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Shōbōgenzō, Genjōkōan, within the tradition of Sōtō Zen. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of awakening, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Dōgen's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Dōgen. (n.d.). To carry the self forward and practice the myriad things is delusion; for the myriad things to come forth and practice the self is enlightenment. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0467

MLA: Dōgen. “To carry the self forward and practice the….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0467.

Chicago: Dōgen. “To carry the self forward and practice the….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0467.

Same thinker

More from Dōgen

  1. To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self.

All quotations by Dōgen

Same theme

More on awakening

  1. The beginning of philosophy is a consciousness of one's own weakness and inability concerning necessary things.
  2. Late have I loved you, beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you!
  3. Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.
  4. The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
  5. That thou art.

Browse the awakening theme