For Zen students, a weed is a treasure.

Things are always changing, so nothing can be yours.

In the mind of the beginner, there are many possibilities. In the mind of the expert there are few.

If you think you will get something from practicing zazen, already you are involved in impure practice.

When we become truly ourselves, we just become a swinging door, and we are purely independent of, and at the same time, dependent upon everything.

The practice of Zen mind is beginner's mind. The innocence of the first inquiry—what am I?—is needed throughout Zen practice. The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities. It is the kind of mind which can see things as they are, which step by step and in a flash can realize the original nature of everything.

The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the experts, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all possibilities.