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.

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

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

The farther you enter into truth, the deeper it is.

The eye with which I see Buddha is the same eye with which Buddha sees me.

The obstacle is the path.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Buddha and all sentient beings are nothing but expressions of the one mind. There is nothing else.

To live is enough.

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

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

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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 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.

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.

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

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

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

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

The silence between the notes is as important as the notes themselves.

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

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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