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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just to be alive is enough.

The best way to control people is to encourage them to be mischievous. Then they will be in control in a wider sense.

In a mind clear as still water, even the waves, breaking, are reflecting its light.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Moment after moment, completely devote yourself to listening to your inner voice.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

The obstacle is the path.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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