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

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

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

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 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.

To live is enough.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

The menu is not the meal.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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