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

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

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

The world is its own magic.

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

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

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

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The obstacle is the path.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

The menu is not the meal.

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.

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

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

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

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

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.

Zen is a way of life, not a theory or a piece of knowledge to be stored away in our minds.

Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When the mind is ready to understand, the truth will come to meet it.

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.

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

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

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

In the spring, hundreds of flowers; in autumn, a harvest moon; in the summer, a refreshing breeze; in winter, snow will accompany you. If useless things do not hang in your mind, any season is a good season for you.

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.

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

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.

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