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

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

“Whereever 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.”

“I discovered that it is necessary, absolutely necessary, to believe in nothing. That is, we have to believe in something which has no form and no color--something which exists before all forms and colors appear... No matter what god or doctrine you believe in, if you become attached to it, your belief will be based more or less on a self-centered idea.”

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

“We do not exist for the sake of something else. We exist for the sake of ourselves.”

“In the zazen posture, your mind and body have, great power to accept things as they are, whether agreeable or disagreeable.In our scriptures (Samyuktagama Sutra, volume 33), it is said that there are four kinds of horses: excellent ones, good ones, poor ones, and bad ones. The best horse will run slow and fast, right and left, at the driver's will, before it sees the shadow of the whip; the second best will run as well as the first one does, just before the whip reaches its skin; the third one will run when it feels pain on its body; the fourth will run after the pain penetrates to the marrow of its bones. You can imagine how difficult it is for the fourth one to learn how to run!”