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

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

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

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

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

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

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 obstacle is the path.

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

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

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just to be alive is enough.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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?

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

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 person is not anyone in particular. But like the deep blue color of the limitless sky, it is everyone, everywhere in the world.

The real secret of the arts: always be a beginner.

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.

The color of the mountains is Buddha's body; the sound of running water is his great speech.

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.

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

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.

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

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

When both body and mind are at peace, all things appear as they are: perfect, complete, lacking nothing.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.