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.

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

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.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

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.

The world is its own magic.

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

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

Just as parents care for their children, you should bear in mind the whole universe.

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

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.

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

Just to be alive is enough.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

Zen proposes its solution by directly appealing to facts of personal experience and not to book-knowledge.

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

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

The menu is not the meal.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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