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

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

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

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

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.

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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 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.

The true 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 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.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

Leave your front door and your back door open. Allow your thoughts to come and go. Just don't serve them tea.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The world is its own magic.

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

To live is enough.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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

The menu is not the meal.

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

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

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

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

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

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