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.

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

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

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

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.

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

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

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

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

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

Zazen is not step-by-step meditation. Rather it is simply the easy and pleasant practice of a Buddha, the realization of the Buddha's Wisdom.

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

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.

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

Zen in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one's own being, and it points the way from bondage to freedom.

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

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.

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

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 true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

The true path is not difficult; just avoid picking and choosing.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

The menu is not the meal.

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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