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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

The world is its own magic.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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

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

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

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

The truth of Zen is the truth of life, and life means to live, to move, to act, not merely to reflect.

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

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

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

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

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 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.

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

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

The menu is not the meal.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Life is an art, and like perfect art it should be self-forgetting.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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

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

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

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

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

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