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.

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

The farther you enter into truth, the deeper it is.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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 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.

Just to be alive is enough.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love 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.

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

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

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

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