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

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

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

The obstacle is the path.

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

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.

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.

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

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 world is its own magic.

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

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.

The menu is not the meal.

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

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

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

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

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

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

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

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.

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

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

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.

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

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

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

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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

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

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

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 role of Zen is neither to stand above life nor to run away from it, but to face it with a spirit of determination.

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

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

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

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

The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull's-eye which confronts him. This state of unconsciousness is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill.

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.

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

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

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

Just to be alive is enough.

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

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

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

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