The idea of Zen is to catch life as it flows. There is nothing extraordinary or mysterious about Zen. I raise my hand; I take a book from the other side of the desk; I hear the boys playing ball outside my window; I see the clouds blown away beyond the neighboring wood: all these I do in Zen.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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 mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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

The menu is not the meal.

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

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

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

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

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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

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.

The time of the past becomes the present, the time of the present becomes the future, the time of the future becomes the present, and the time of the present becomes the past.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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