The true path is not difficult; just avoid picking and choosing.

The purpose of studying Buddhism is not to study Buddhism, but to study ourselves.

The mind is the root from which all things grow. If you can understand the mind, everything else is included.

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

Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks.

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

At the bottom of great doubt lies great awakening. If you doubt fully, you will awaken fully.

The real secret of the arts: always be a beginner.

Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure.

Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself.

The real purpose of Zen is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes.

The way is basically perfect. It is not a matter of practice or enlightenment.

The farther you enter into truth, the deeper it is.

To see nothing is to perceive the Way, and to understand nothing is to know the Dharma.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

The contradiction so puzzling to the ordinary way of thinking comes from the fact that we have to use language to communicate our inner experience, which in its very nature transcends linguistics.

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

Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space?

Zen is not necessarily against words, but it is well aware of their limitations.

Life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken. Awaken! Take heed, do not squander your life.

Wherever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are one with everything. That is more true than I can say, and more true than you can hear.

Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else.

When you listen to someone, you should give up all your preconceived ideas and your subjective opinions.

Moment after moment, completely devote yourself to listening to your inner voice.

The truth of Zen is the truth of life, and life means to live, to move, to act, not merely to reflect.

The world is its own magic.

Where there is great doubt, there is great awakening; small doubt, small awakening; no doubt, no awakening.

Our practice cannot be perfect, but without being discouraged by this, we should continue it. This is the secret of practice.

The dharma wheel turns from the beginning. There is neither excess nor deficiency. The whole universe is moistened with nectar, and the truth is ready to harvest.

The most important point is to accept yourself and stand on your two feet.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

The time of the past becomes the present, the time of the present becomes the future, the time of the future becomes the present, and the time of the present becomes the past.

What Zen wants us to do is to acquire an entirely new point of view whereby to look into the mysteries of life and the secrets of nature.

A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it.

The idea of Zen is to catch life as it flows. There is nothing extraordinary or mysterious about Zen. I raise my hand; I take a book from the other side of the desk; I hear the boys playing ball outside my window; I see the clouds blown away beyond the neighboring wood: all these I do in Zen.

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

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.

Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.

Zen proposes its solution by directly appealing to facts of personal experience and not to book-knowledge.

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

Everybody has the light of Buddha within, but they don't look for it.

When dharma fills your body and mind, you realize that something is missing.

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

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

There is no need to have a deep understanding of Zen. Even though you read much Zen literature, you must read each sentence with a fresh mind.

The treasure house within you contains everything, and you are free to use it. You don't need to seek outside.

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

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 role of Zen is neither to stand above life nor to run away from it, but to face it with a spirit of determination.

When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.

The zazen I speak of is not meditation practice. It is simply the dharma gate of joyful ease.

In the spiritual world there are no time divisions such as the past, present and future; for they have contracted themselves into a single moment of the present where life quivers in its true sense.

Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenment.

If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything.

What we call "I" is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale.

When you are you, Zen is Zen. Big mind is just big mind.

Life is an art, and like perfect art it should be self-forgetting.

Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.