Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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.

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

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

To live is enough.

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

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

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

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.

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

The menu is not the meal.

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

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

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

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

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 farther you enter into truth, the deeper it is.

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.

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

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

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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.

Our practice cannot be perfect, but without being discouraged by this, we should continue it. This is the secret of practice.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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

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