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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The mind of the past is ungraspable; the mind of the future is ungraspable; the mind of the present is ungraspable.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

Leave your front door and your back door open. Allow your thoughts to come and go. Just don't serve them tea.

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

The obstacle is the path.

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 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.

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

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.

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.

Only when you can be extremely pliable and soft can you be extremely hard and strong.

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

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

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