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?

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

The practice of Zen is forgetting the self in the act of uniting with something.

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

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.

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

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

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

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the spring, hundreds of flowers; in autumn, a harvest moon; in the summer, a refreshing breeze; in winter, snow will accompany you. If useless things do not hang in your mind, any season is a good season for you.

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

When the mind is ready to understand, the truth will come to meet it.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.