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

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

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

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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

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

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

Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space?

Life is an art, and like perfect art it should be self-forgetting.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

When dharma fills your body and mind, you realize that something is missing.

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

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

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

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

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

The menu is not the meal.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities.

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

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

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

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.

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The farther you enter into truth, the deeper it is.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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