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

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

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

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

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.

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

The basic teaching of Buddhism is the teaching of transiency, or change.

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

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 menu is not the meal.

When you see forms or hear sounds fully engaging body-and-mind, you intuit dharma intimately.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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 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.

To live is enough.

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

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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 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.

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

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

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 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.

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

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

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 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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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

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

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.

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

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