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

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

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

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

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.

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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

At the bottom of great doubt lies great awakening. If you doubt fully, you will awaken fully.

The more you suffer the deeper grows your character, and with the deepening of your character you read the more penetratingly into the secrets of life.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Time passes unhindered. When we make ourselves better, we make the world better.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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

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.

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

There is no need to have a deep understanding of Zen. Even though you read much Zen literature, you must read each sentence with a fresh mind.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zen is a way of life, not a theory or a piece of knowledge to be stored away in our minds.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

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.

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.

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

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