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

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.

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

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

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

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

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 you forget yourself, you become the universe.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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

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

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

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.

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 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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.

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.

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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.

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