When you listen to someone, you should give up all your preconceived ideas and your subjective opinions.

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

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

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

Our practice cannot be perfect, but without being discouraged by this, we should continue it. This is the secret of practice.

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

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.

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

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.

Instead of having a deep understanding of the teaching, we need a strong confidence in our teaching, which says that originally we have Buddha nature.

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

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

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

The menu is not the meal.

To live is enough.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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

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

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

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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.

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.

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

The obstacle is the path.

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

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

Just to be alive is enough.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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 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 world is its own magic.

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

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