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.

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

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

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.

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

The menu is not the meal.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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 mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

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

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

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

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

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Just to be alive is enough.

The obstacle is the path.

Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks.

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

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

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