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

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

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

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

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

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

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

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

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 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our practice cannot be perfect, but without being discouraged by this, we should continue it. This is the secret of practice.

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

When you see forms or hear sounds fully engaging body-and-mind, you intuit dharma intimately.

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

To live is enough.

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.

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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

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 real secret of the arts: always be a beginner.

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

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

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.

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

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

The world is its own magic.

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

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

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

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

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

Moment after moment, completely devote yourself to listening to your inner voice.

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

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.

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

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 obstacle is the path.

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

Just to be alive is enough.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.