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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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 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.

Just to be alive is enough.

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

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.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

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

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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.

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

To live is enough.

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

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.