If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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.

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

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

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The obstacle is the path.

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 role of Zen is neither to stand above life nor to run away from it, but to face it with a spirit of determination.

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

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.

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

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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

When both body and mind are at peace, all things appear as they are: perfect, complete, lacking nothing.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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

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.

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

Instead of having a deep understanding of the teaching, we need a strong confidence in our teaching, which says that originally we have Buddha nature.

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

To live is enough.

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

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 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.

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

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

Just to be alive is enough.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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