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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

The obstacle is the path.

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

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 walk in the mist, you get wet.

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The menu is not the meal.

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

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

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

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

Just to be alive is enough.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Personal experience is everything in Zen. No ideas are intelligible to those who have no backing of experience.

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 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.

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

The time of the past becomes the present, the time of the present becomes the future, the time of the future becomes the present, and the time of the present becomes the past.

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

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.

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

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

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

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

Buddhas and ordinary beings are not two. Enlightenment and delusion are not different paths.

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

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

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

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.

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?

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.

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.

Where is the place that your original face has not yet emerged?

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

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

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