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

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

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

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

The menu is not the meal.

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

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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 farther you enter into truth, the deeper it is.

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

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

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

The obstacle is the path.

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

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

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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.

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

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 of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities.

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

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

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

Zen is not necessarily against words, but it is well aware of their limitations.

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

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.

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

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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.

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

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

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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.

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

All beings by nature are Buddha, as ice by nature is water. Apart from water there is no ice; apart from beings, no Buddha.

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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