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

Where there is great doubt, there is great awakening; small doubt, small awakening; no doubt, no awakening.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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 most important point is to accept yourself and stand on your two feet.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull's-eye which confronts him. This state of unconsciousness is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill.

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

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

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.

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

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

The silence between the notes is as important as the notes themselves.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

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

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

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

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

The treasure house within you contains everything, and you are free to use it. You don't need to seek outside.

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