In the mind of the beginner, there are many possibilities. In the mind of the expert there are few.
Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink.
In reflecting on our problems, we should include ourselves.
Wabi means spare, impoverished; simple and functional. It connotes a transcendence of fad and fashion. The spirit of wabi imbues all the Zen arts, from calligraphy to karate, from the tea ceremony to Zen archery.
If it is raining out, do not walk fast, because it is raining everywhere.
You want to eliminate your evil desires in order to reveal your Buddha nature, but where will you throw them away?
When you say, “Wait a moment,” you are bound by your karma; when you say “Yes I will,” you are free.
So the secret is just to say ‘Yes!’ and jump off from here. Then there is no problem. It means to be yourself, always yourself, without sticking to an old self.
The more you practice zazen, the more you will be able to accept something as your own, whatever it is.
To be different is to have value. In this sense all things have equal, absolute value. Each thing has absolute value and thus is equal to everything else.
To express yourself as you are, without any intentional, fancy way of adjusting yourself, is the most important thing.
Time goes from present to past.
When he bowed to all those buddhas, the buddhas he bowed to were beyond his own understanding. Again and again he did it.
I think you’re all enlightened, until you open your mouths.
Life without zazen is like winding your clock without setting it. It runs perfectly well, but it dosen’t tell time.
To accept some idea of truth without experiencing it is like a painting of a cake on paper which you cannot eat.
In the Lotus Sutra, Buddha says to light up one corner – not the whole world. Just make it clear where you are.
You may say that things happen just by chance, but I don’t feel that way.
The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the experts, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all possibilities.
To have some deep feeling about Buddhism is not the point; we just do what we should do, like eating supper and going to bed. This is Buddhism.