Not knowing how near the truth is, we seek it far away.

The instant you speak about a thing, you miss the mark.

Meditation in the midst of activity is a thousand times superior to meditation in stillness.

Where is the place that your original face has not yet emerged?

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

The mind is like a well-forged sword - it adapts to all situations.

Without darkness, there is no light. Without the path, there is no arrival.

Should you desire the great tranquility, prepare to sweat white beads.

Only when you can be extremely pliable and soft can you be extremely hard and strong.

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

All beings by nature are Buddha, as ice by nature is water. Apart from water there is no ice; apart from beings, no Buddha.

The Buddha and all sentient beings are nothing but expressions of the one mind. There is nothing else.

The silence between the notes is as important as the notes themselves.

When you realize how perfect everything is, you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.

Intrinsically all living beings are Buddhas, just as ice and water are of the same substance.

The obstacle is the path.

The practice of Zen is forgetting the self in the act of uniting with something.

If you want to climb a mountain, begin at the top.

When walking, just walk. When sitting, just sit. Above all, don't wobble.

The superior person is like water, bringing benefit to all without competing.