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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 to be alive is enough.

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

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.

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

The more you suffer the deeper grows your character, and with the deepening of your character you read the more penetratingly into the secrets of life.

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

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To live is enough.

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

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

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

The obstacle is the path.

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

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

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

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

The menu is not the meal.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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