The obstacle is the path.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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 true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

To live is enough.

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

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

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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

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

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.

Just to be alive is enough.

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

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.

Life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken. Awaken! Take heed, do not squander your life.

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

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.