If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

Zazen is not step-by-step meditation. Rather it is simply the easy and pleasant practice of a Buddha, the realization of the Buddha's Wisdom.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

The menu is not the meal.

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

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

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

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

Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure.

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

Whoever told you that practice and enlightenment are separate?

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

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

The world is its own magic.

The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

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

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

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

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

The obstacle is the path.

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