The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there.

Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink.

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

As long as you seek for something, you will get the shadow of reality and not reality itself.

Even if you speak of 'understanding,' this understanding is not a matter of knowledge. It is what fills the entire body and mind.

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

Zen in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one's own being, and it points the way from bondage to freedom.

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

To live is enough.

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

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

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

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

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

The basic idea of Zen is to come in touch with the inner workings of our being, and to do this in the most direct way possible, without resorting to anything external or superadded.

The eye with which I see Buddha is the same eye with which Buddha sees me.

Personal experience is everything in Zen. No ideas are intelligible to those who have no backing of experience.

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

Instead of having a deep understanding of the teaching, we need a strong confidence in our teaching, which says that originally we have Buddha nature.

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

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

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

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

The ocean does not reject any water; therefore it is great. The mountain does not select its stones; therefore it is great.

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

The basic teaching of Buddhism is the teaching of transiency, or change.

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

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

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

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

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

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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

When you practice zazen you should not try to attain anything. You should just sit in the complete calmness of your mind and not rely on anything.

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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

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

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

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

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

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

To what shall I compare this life? It is like a boat that left at dawn, leaving no trace.

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

When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point.

Zazen is not step-by-step meditation. Rather it is simply the easy and pleasant practice of a Buddha, the realization of the Buddha's Wisdom.

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

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

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

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