To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things.

If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?

Emptiness which is conceptually liable to be mistaken for sheer nothingness is in fact the reservoir of infinite possibilities.

Time passes unhindered. When we make ourselves better, we make the world better.

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

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

Birth and death are neither two things nor one thing. Life is not an appearance, death is not a disappearance.

The practice of Zen mind is beginner's mind. In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind there are few.

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

The mind of the past is ungraspable; the mind of the future is ungraspable; the mind of the present is ungraspable.

In the spring, hundreds of flowers; in autumn, a harvest moon; in the summer, a refreshing breeze; in winter, snow will accompany you. If useless things do not hang in your mind, any season is a good season for you.

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few.

Zen teaches nothing; it merely enables us to wake up and become aware. It does not teach, it points.

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.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

The more you suffer the deeper grows your character, and with the deepening of your character you read the more penetratingly into the secrets of life.

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

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

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

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

Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.

Zen is a way of life, not a theory or a piece of knowledge to be stored away in our minds.

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

When the mind is ready to understand, the truth will come to meet it.

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

The true person is not anyone in particular. But like the deep blue color of the limitless sky, it is everyone, everywhere in the world.

Buddhas and ordinary beings are not two. Enlightenment and delusion are not different paths.

To live – is that not enough? To love – is that not everything?

The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities.

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

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

To carry yourself forward and experience myriad things is delusion. That myriad things come forth and experience themselves is awakening.

The menu is not the meal.

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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.

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

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

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

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 farther you enter into truth, the deeper it is.

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.

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.

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

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

Just as parents care for their children, you should bear in mind the whole universe.

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

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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

The world is its own magic.

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.

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

To study the Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things.

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.

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.

This very body is the Buddha. And this very earth the lotus paradise.

The best way to control people is to encourage them to be mischievous. Then they will be in control in a wider sense.

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.