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

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

When you see forms or hear sounds fully engaging body-and-mind, you intuit dharma intimately.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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.

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.

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

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.

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 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.

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

Zen teaches nothing; it merely enables us to wake up and become aware. It does not teach, it points.

Zazen is not step-by-step meditation. Rather it is simply the easy and pleasant practice of a Buddha, the realization of the Buddha's Wisdom.

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

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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 superior person is like water, bringing benefit to all without competing.

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 obstacle is the path.

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.

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

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

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

At the bottom of great doubt lies great awakening. If you doubt fully, you will awaken fully.

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

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

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

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

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

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