Selected Works by Eihei Dogen

Ching-ch'ing's Raindrop Sound
Because the mind is free -
Listening to the rain
Dripping from the eaves,
The drops become
One with me.

In The Stream
In the stream,
Rushing past
To the dusty world,
My fleeting form
Casts no reflection.

One of six verses composed in An'yoin Temple in Fukakusa, 1230:
Drifting pitifully in the whirlwind of birth and death,
As if wandering in a dream,
In the midst of illusion I awaken to the true path;
There is one more matter I must not neglect,
But I need not bother now,
As I listen to the sound of the evening rain
Falling on the roof of my temple retreat
In the deep grass of Fukakusa.

Coming or Going
 The migrating bird
leaves no trace behind
and does not need a guide.

Worship
A white heron
Hiding itself
In the snowy field,
Where even the winter grass
Cannot be seen.

Zazen
The moon reflected
In a mind clear
As still water:
Even the waves, breaking,
Are reflecting its light.

Impermanence
To what shall
I liken the world?
Moonlight, reflected
In dewdrops,
Shaken from a crane's bill.

 

Sand Mandalas

"Of all the traditional Tibetan tantric practices, the art of painting with colored sand is one of the most unique and exquisite. In Tibetan language, this art is called dul-tson-kyil-khor, which literally means "mandala of colored powders."

"Millions of grains of sand are painstakingly laid into place on a flat platform over a period of days or weeks before ultimately being dismantled in order to release and disseminate the deity's blessings into the world to benefit all sentient beings.















Formed into traditionally prescribed Tibetan iconography that includes geometric shapes and a multitude of historical Buddhist spiritual symbols, the sand-painted mandala is used as a tool for consecrating, or blessing, the earth and its inhabitants, and provides for the practitioner a visual framework for establishing the enlightened mind of the Buddha."

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