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

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.

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

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The menu is not the meal.

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

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

This is the real secret of life -- to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

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

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

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

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To see nothing is to perceive the Way, and to understand nothing is to know the Dharma.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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