When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

This is the real secret of life -- to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.

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.

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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.

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.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

When dharma fills your body and mind, you realize that something is missing.

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

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

Just to be alive is enough.

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

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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 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.

What we call "I" is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale.

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

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

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

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

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