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

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

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.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

In Zen there must be satori; there must be a general mental upheaval which destroys the old accumulations of intellection and lays down the foundation for a new life.

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

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.

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

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

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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

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.

Zen proposes its solution by directly appealing to facts of personal experience and not to book-knowledge.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

The world is its own magic.

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.

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

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 color of the mountains is Buddha's body; the sound of running water is his great speech.

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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.

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

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Just to be alive is enough.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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 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 live is enough.

Emptiness which is conceptually liable to be mistaken for sheer nothingness is in fact the reservoir of infinite possibilities.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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.

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

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