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.

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

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

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.

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

The most important things in our practice are our physical posture and our way of breathing.

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

The state of mind that exists when you sit in the right posture is, itself, enlightenment.

The color of the mountains is Buddha's body; the sound of running water is his great speech.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

In Zen there must be satori; there must be a general mental upheaval which destroys the old accumulations of intellection and lays down the foundation for a new life.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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?

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 understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything.

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.

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

Technical knowledge is not enough. One must transcend techniques so that the art becomes an artless art, growing out of the unconscious.

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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

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

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

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

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

Each of you is perfect the way you are... and you can use a little improvement.

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

To be in harmony with the wholeness of things is not to have anxiety over imperfection.

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

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.

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

This is the real secret of life -- to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.

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

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

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

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

The awareness that you are here, right now, is the ultimate fact.

Your own treasure house contains everything you need; why search outside?

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

The obstacle is the path.