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

Even though you have pain in your legs, you can do it. Even though your practice is not good enough, you can do it.

In order not to leave any traces, when you do something, you should do it with your whole body and mind; you should be concentrated on what you do. You should do it completely, like a good bonfire. You should not be a smoky fire. You should burn yourself completely. If you do not burn yourself completely, a trace of yourself will be left in what you do. You should not have any remains after you do something. But this does not mean to forget all about it.

To give your sheep or cow a large, spacious meadow is the way to control him.

When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything. The best way is to understand yourself, and then you will understand everything.

There are, strictly speaking, no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity.

In Japan we have the phrase, "Shoshin," which means "beginner's mind." Our "original mind" includes everything within itself. It is always rich and sufficient within itself. This does not mean a closed mind, but actually an empty mind and a ready mind. If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything. It is open to everything. In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind there are few.