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

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

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

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

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

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

The menu is not the meal.

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

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.

If you forget yourself, you become the universe.

Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenment.

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

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

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

Just to be alive is enough.

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.

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

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

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

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

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

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

The true understanding is that the practice itself is enlightenment.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The world is its own magic.