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.

The secret of Soto Zen is just two words: not always so.... In Japanese, it's two words, three words in English. That is the secret of our practice.

Concentration comes not from trying hard to focus on something, but from keeping your mind open and directing it at nothing.

Let your ears hear without trying to hear. Let the mind think without trying to think and without trying to stop it. That is practice.

To find perfect composure in the midst of change is to find nirvana.

Those who sit perfectly physically usually take more time to obtain the true way of Zen.

Zen is everywhere.... But for you, Zen is right here.