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

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

The obstacle is the path.

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.

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

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

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

The eye with which I see Buddha is the same eye with which Buddha sees me.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

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

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

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

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

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

The real secret of the arts: always be a beginner.

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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.