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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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?

To study the Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things.

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.

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

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

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

The world is its own magic.

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

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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

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.

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

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

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.

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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