“Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenment.”

I asked, “What are words?” The tenzo said, “One, two, three, four, five.” I asked again, “What is practice?” “Nothing in the entire universe is hidden.”

Forgetting oneself is opening oneself

Zazen is an activity that is an extension of the universe. Zazen is not the life of an individual, it’s the universe that’s breathing.

When both body and mind are at peace, all things appear as they are: perfect, complete, lacking nothing.

In doing zazen it is desirable to have a quiet room. You should be temperate in eating and drinking, forsaking all delusive relationships. Setting everything aside, think of neither good nor evil, right nor wrong. Thus having stopped the various functions of your mind, five up even the idea of becoming a Buddha.

The recognition of the coming and going of things is a first step in training and practice.

Emptiness is bound to bloom, like hundreds of grasses blossoming.

But do not ask me where I am going, As I travel in this limitless world, Where every step I take is my home.

A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it.

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

Life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken. Awaken. Take heed, do not squander your life.

Coming, going, the waterbirds, don’t leave a trace, don’t follow a path.

What is the way of the Buddha? It is to study the self. What is the study of the self? It is to forget oneself. To forget oneself is to enlightened by everything in the world.

The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.

Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself. Your body and mind will become clear and you will realize the unity of all things.

Meditation is not a way to enlightenment, Nor is it a method of achieving anything at all. It is peace itself. It is the actualization of wisdom, The ultimate truth of the oneness of all things.

Owning your own feelings, rather than blaming them on someone else, is the mark of a person who has moved from contracted to expanded awareness.

I have two passions in my life. One is to raise the awareness of the internment of Japanese-American citizens. My other passion is the theater.

What I do must be done in the sunlight of awareness.

I know where I’m going, and I know where I’ve been.

A lack of self-awareness is poison. Reflection and review is the antidote.

I am not absentminded. It is the presence of mind that makes me unaware of everything else.

I’ve always tried to be aware of what I say in my films, because all of us who make motion pictures are teachers – teachers with very loud voices.

For the future, the motto is, “No days unalert.”