When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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

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

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

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

The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.

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

Zen is not necessarily against words, but it is well aware of their limitations.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

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.

The obstacle is the path.

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

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.

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

Time passes unhindered. When we make ourselves better, we make the world better.

If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything.

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

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