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.

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

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

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

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

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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

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

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.

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 world is its own magic.

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

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

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

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

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 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 real secret of the arts: always be a beginner.

To live – is that not enough? To love – is that not everything?

To be in harmony with the wholeness of things is not to have anxiety over imperfection.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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 understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

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.

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

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

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.

The menu is not the meal.

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

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.

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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

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

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

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

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