Our own life has to be our message.

The mind is like a wild monkey, jumping here and there. But through meditation, we learn to see whatever arises in our mind with more spaciousness and clarity.

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

The most profound meditation is to think nothing at all.

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

In my youth I studied, in my prime I practiced, now all my doubts are cleared.

Meditation is like catching a fish. If you try to catch it quickly, you'll miss it. If you have patience and know how to wait, the fish will come.

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

Few among men are they who cross to the further shore. The others merely run up and down the bank on this side.

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

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

The practitioner and practice are like fire and wood. The more you practice, the more you burn.

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

The difference between buddhas and sentient beings is that buddhas recognize their nature while sentient beings fail to recognize it.

Just know what is happening in your mind - not happy or sad about it, not attached. If you suffer, see it, know it, be empty.

Appearances are mind, mind itself is emptiness, emptiness itself is spontaneous presence.

Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.

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

The only things that are truly mine are my actions and their results.

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull's-eye which confronts him. This state of unconsciousness is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill.

Equanimity is not indifference. It is the balanced state of mind.

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

People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost.

The greatest achievement is selflessness. The greatest worth is self-mastery.

The goal is not to be better than the other man, but your previous self.

The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don't wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy.

The snow lion stays in the mountains, and the snow lion's ways are the snow lion's ways.

Our basic nature is pure awareness that simply cognizes experience. Everything else is temporary and adventitious.

We do not "come into" this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree.

The Buddha's teachings are not a religion, but a science of mind.

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.

The key to happiness is inner peace. The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as anger, attachment, fear and suspicion.