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.

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

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.

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.

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.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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.

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

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

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

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

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

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

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

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

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

The obstacle is the path.

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

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

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

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.

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

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 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.

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

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

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

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.

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