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

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

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

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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.

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.

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

Moment after moment, completely devote yourself to listening to your inner voice.

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

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

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

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

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

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 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.

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

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

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

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.

The world is its own magic.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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