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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 real secret of the arts: always be a beginner.

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

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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

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

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

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

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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

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

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

To live is enough.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.