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

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.

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

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

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

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

The obstacle is the path.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just to be alive is enough.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

The menu is not the meal.

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?

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.

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

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.

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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 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.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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

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

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

The world is its own magic.

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

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

To see nothing is to perceive the Way, and to understand nothing is to know the Dharma.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

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

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.

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.