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

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

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

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

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

Meditation in the midst of activity is a thousand times superior to meditation in stillness.

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 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.

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

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

The obstacle is the path.

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

The zazen I speak of is not meditation practice. It is simply the dharma gate of joyful ease.

The ocean does not reject any water; therefore it is great. The mountain does not select its stones; therefore it is great.

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

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

Just to be alive is enough.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

Not knowing how near the truth is, we seek it far away.

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

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

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

The world is its own magic.

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

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.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure.

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

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

The treasure house within you contains everything, and you are free to use it. You don't need to seek outside.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

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.

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

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 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.

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

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

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

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

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