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.

Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space?

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The treasure house within you contains everything, and you are free to use it. You don't need to seek outside.

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

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

The menu is not the meal.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Should you desire the great tranquility, prepare to sweat white beads.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

What Zen wants us to do is to acquire an entirely new point of view whereby to look into the mysteries of life and the secrets of nature.

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

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

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.