Meditation in the midst of activity is a thousand times superior to meditation in stillness.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

To live is enough.

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.

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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

Only when you can be extremely pliable and soft can you be extremely hard and strong.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The menu is not the meal.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure.

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

The zazen I speak of is not meditation practice. It is simply the dharma gate of joyful ease.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?