What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

The world is its own magic.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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

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.

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.

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

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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

Just to be alive is enough.