"Any practitioner who wants to cultivate the teaching of the Zen school amounts to a bodhisattva studying prajna. They should [...] be devoted to the cultivation of samadhi [and] maintain the wondrous purifying precepts of great bodhisattvas." (Myōan Eisai, "Kōzen gokokuron" ["The Promotion of Zen for the Protection of the Country"], cca 12th century)
"It is most urgent that one rely on the power of meditation [in all activities], whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down. If one wants to realize [the power of] meditation, one must carry out the practice of the vinaya [precepts]. Those who carry out zen meditation practice in the absence of the stipulated provisions of the vinaya precepts have no basis for their practice. [...] Therefore, if one wants to realize the method for Zen meditation described here, one will uphold the vinaya purely so that one is free of any blemish." (Myōan Eisai, "Kōzen gokokuron" ["The Promotion of Zen for the Protection of the Country"], cca 12th century)
"The destruction of evil depends on the purification of wisdom. The purification of wisdom depends on the purification of meditation. The purification of meditation depends on the purification of the monastic precepts. The Buddha possesses four kinds of positive methods for winning enlightenment. The first is the monastic precepts. The second is meditation. The third is wisdom. The fourth is a mind free of impurities." (Myōan Eisai, "Kōzen gokokuron" ["The Promotion of Zen for the Protection of the Country"], cca 12th century)
"The heart is the sovereign of the five organs, tea is the chief of the bitter foods, and bitter is the chief of the tastes. For this reason the heart loves bitter things, and when it is doing well all the other organs are properly regulated. [...] When, however, the whole body feels weak, devitalized, and depressed, it is a sign that the heart is ailing. Drink lots of tea, and one 's energy and spirits ww be restored to full strength." (Myōan Eisai, "Drink Tea and Prolong Life", cca 12th century)
"Thus the Truth it [Zen] teaches, both in substance and appearance, perfects the relationships of master and disciple. In its rules of action and discipline, there is no confusion of right and wrong. [...] Studying it, one discovers the key to all forms of Buddhism; practicing it, one's life is brought to fulfillment in the attainment of enlightenment. Outwardly it favors discipline over doctrine, inwardly it brings the Highest Inner Wisdom. This is what the Zen sect stands for." (Myōan Eisai, "Kōzen gokokuron" ["The Promotion of Zen for the Protection of the Country"], cca 12th century)
"With the elimination of mental activity, one transcends [the need for] the vinaya. [...] Originally, there are no vinaya rules to practice, much less the cultivation of good deeds." (Myōan Eisai, "Kōzen gokokuron" ["The Promotion of Zen for the Protection of the Country"], cca 12th century)
"The [teaching of the] Zen school is independent of what is articulated in names and words, independent of mental deliberations and distinctions, incapable of comprehension, and ultimately unobtainable. The so-called 'Law of the Buddha' is not a law that can be articulated and is only [provisionally] named the Law of the Buddha. What is currently referred to as Zen marks this as a conspicuous feature of its teaching. Since the above three methods are all [articulated in terms of] provisional names, anyone who claims that Buddhist Zen teaching depends on words and letters and is articulated verbally is actually slandering the Buddha and slandering the Law. Because of this, the patriarch-master [Bodhidharma] referred to the Zen approach [in terms of] 'do not rely on words and letters, directly point to the human mind, and see one’s nature and become a Buddha'. Anyone who [tries to understand Buddhism] by grasping names and words is ignorant of the Law, and anyone who [tries to understand Buddhism] by grasping at the appearances [of names and forms] is even more deluded. [The state that] is inherently immovable, where there is nothing to be obtained, is what is referredto as seeing the Law of the Buddha [in the true Zen approach]." (Myōan Eisai)
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