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.

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

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

Just to be alive is enough.

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

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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

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

Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself.

When you walk in the mist, you get wet.

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

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

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

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 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.

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

The basic idea of Zen is to come in touch with the inner workings of our being, and to do this in the most direct way possible, without resorting to anything external or superadded.

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

The obstacle is the path.

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.

When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything.

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

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

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

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

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Intrinsically all living beings are Buddhas, just as ice and water are of the same substance.

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.

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

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

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

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.

To live is enough.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

The menu is not the meal.

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