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

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.

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

Just to be alive is enough.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To live is enough.

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

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

The world is its own magic.

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

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 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.

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

The obstacle is the path.

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

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

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

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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

The menu is not the meal.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

In the spring, hundreds of flowers; in autumn, a harvest moon; in the summer, a refreshing breeze; in winter, snow will accompany you. If useless things do not hang in your mind, any season is a good season for you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Should you desire the great tranquility, prepare to sweat white beads.

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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

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

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.

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

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