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

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

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

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

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.

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

To live is enough.

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

A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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 farther you enter into truth, the deeper it is.

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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.

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.

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

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 mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

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

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.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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

The basic teaching of Buddhism is the teaching of transiency, or change.

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

The world is its own magic.

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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