The mind we have when we practice zazen is the great mind: we don't try to see anything; we stop conceptual thinking; we stop emotional activity; we just sit. Whatever happens to us, we are not bothered. We just sit. It is like something happening in the great sky. Whatever kind of bird flies through it, the sky doesn't care. That is the mind transmitted from Buddha to us.

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

When something dies is the greatest teaching.

The way that helps will not be the same; it changes according to the situation.

To express yourself as you are, without any intentional, fancy way of adjusting yourself, is the most important thing.

A garden is never finished.

You must be true to your own way until at last you actually come to the point where you see it is necessary to forget all about yourself.