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

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

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

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

When you are you, Zen is Zen. Big mind is just big mind.

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

The silence between the notes is as important as the notes themselves.

The world is its own magic.

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.

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

The obstacle is the path.

Zen is not necessarily against words, but it is well aware of their limitations.

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.

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.

Birth and death are neither two things nor one thing. Life is not an appearance, death is not a disappearance.

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.

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

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

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

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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

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

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

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

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

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

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

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

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

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

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

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.

The awareness that you are here, right now, is the ultimate fact.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

To live is enough.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything.

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 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.