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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks.

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

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.

Wherever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are one with everything. That is more true than I can say, and more true than you can hear.

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

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

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?

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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.

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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.

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

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

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

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