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

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

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

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

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.

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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.

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 obstacle is the path.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Just to be alive is enough.

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

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

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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 way is basically perfect. It is not a matter of practice or enlightenment.

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.

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

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

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

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 role of Zen is neither to stand above life nor to run away from it, but to face it with a spirit of determination.

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.

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

The world is its own magic.

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.

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

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

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

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

Zen teaches nothing; it merely enables us to wake up and become aware. It does not teach, it points.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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