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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The menu is not the meal.

The world is its own magic.

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

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

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

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

Where is the place that your original face has not yet emerged?

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

The obstacle is the path.

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

To see nothing is to perceive the Way, and to understand nothing is to know the Dharma.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Just to be alive is enough.

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.

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.

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

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

The most important point is to accept yourself and stand on your two feet.

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