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.

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

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.

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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.

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

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

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

The most important things in our practice are our physical posture and our way of breathing.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

The menu is not the meal.

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

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

Just to be alive is enough.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

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

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

The mind is like a well-forged sword - it adapts to all situations.

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

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

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

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.

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

What Zen wants us to do is to acquire an entirely new point of view whereby to look into the mysteries of life and the secrets of nature.

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

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

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?

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

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

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

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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.

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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