Shunryu Suzuki Quotes

But as long as you think you are practicing zazen for the sake of something, that is not true practice.

Our effort in our practice should be directed from achievement to non-achievement.

Just continue in your calm, ordinary practice and your character will be built up.

For the beginner, practice without effort is not true practice.

Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink.

We sit to express our true nature

From True Emptiness The Wondrous Being Appears

When you are fooled by something else, the damage will not be so big. But when you are fooled by yourself, it is fatal. No more medicine.

A tiger does not ignore or slight any small animal. The way he catches a mouse and catches and devours a cow are the same.

Our mind should be free from traces of the past, just like the flowers of spring.

We do not exist for the sake of something else. We exist for the sake of ourselves.

If you want to read a letter from the Buddha's world, it is necessary to understand Buddha's world.

A master who cannot bow to his disciple cannot bow to Buddha.

Moment after moment, everyone comes out from nothingness. This is the true joy of life.

When you sit, everything sits with you.

Each of you is perfect the way you are ... and you can use a little improvement.

We try, and we try, and we fail; and then we go deeper.

Discipline is creating the situation.

There is no connection between I myself yesterday and I myself in this moment

Life and death are the same thing. When we realize this fact, we have no fear of death anymore, nor actual difficulty in our life.

If I tell you something, you will stick to it and limit your own capacity to find out for yourself.

The point we emphasize is strong confidence in our original nature.

Instead of criticizing, find out how to help.

Our way is to practice one step at a time, one breath at a time, with no gaining idea.

If you receive things just as an echo of yourself, you do not really see them, you do not fully accept them as they are.

We should not be just a fan of dragons; we should always be the dragon himself. Then we will not be afraid of any dragon.

When you bow, you should just bow; when you sit, you should just sit; when you eat, you should just eat.

It is wisdom that is seeking for wisdom.

In the Lotus Sutra, Buddha says to light up one corner - not the whole world. Just make it clear where you are.

There is no particular way in true practice. You should find your own way, and you should know what kind of practice you have right now.

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

When you do things in the right way, at the right time, everything else will be organized.

The purpose of our practice is just to be yourself.

Life without zazen is like winding your clock without setting it. It runs perfectly well, but it dosen't tell time.

If you were not born in this world, there would be no need to die. To be born in this world is to die, to disappear [laughing].

Do not be too interested in Zen.

To accept some idea of truth without experiencing it is like a painting of a cake on paper which you cannot eat.

A mind full of preconceived ideas, subjective intentions, or habits it not open to things as they are.

When something dies is the greatest teaching.

There is no gap between the ignorant and the wise. A foolish person is a wise person; a wise person is a foolish person.

Zazen practice and everyday activity are one thing. We call zazen everyday life, and everyday life zazen.

It will take quite a long time before you find your calm, serene mind in your practice.

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

Waves are the practice of the water.

Moment after moment, completely devote yourself to listening to your inner voice.

But the way of practice is just to be concentrated on your breathing with the right posture and with great, pure effort.

An enlightened person does not ignore things and does not stick to things, not even to the truth.

You should not be surprised at whatever you see or hear ... If you are ready to accept things as they are, you will receive them as old friends.

Just remain on your cushion without expecting anything.

Even when you practice zazen alone, without a teacher, I think you will find some way to tell whether your practice is adequate or not.

Our way is not to sit to acquire something; it is to express our true nature. That is our practice.

In our practice we have no particular purpose or goal, nor any special object of worship.

Each one of us must make his own true way, and when we do, that way will express the universal way.

Tai Shimano visited Shunryu Suzuki. "How are you feeling these days?" Suzuki replied, "They have a new name for me: Cancer!"

To live in the realm of Buddha nature means to die as a small being, moment after moment.

Time goes from present to past.

The best way to control cow and sheep is to give them a big grazing field.

There is no need to have a deep understanding of Zen.

Those who can sit perfectly physically usually take more time to obtain the true way of Zen, the actual feeling of Zen, the marrow of Zen.

To live is enough.

Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.

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

The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the experts, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all possibilities.

How much 'ego' do you need? Just enough so that you don't step in front of a bus.

Strictly speaking, there are no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity.

If you think your body and mind are two, that is wrong; if you think that they are one, that is also wrong. Our body and mind are both two and one.

Wherever you go you will find your teacher, as long as you have the eyes to see and the ears to hear.

You should rather be grateful for the weeds, because eventually they will enrich your practice.

People who know the state of emptiness will always be able to dissolve their problems by constancy.

When we do not expect anything we can be ourselves. That is our way, to live fully in each moment of time.

As soon as you see something, you already start to intellectualize it. As soon as you intellectualize something, it is no longer what you saw.

Our way to practice is one step at a time, on breath at a time.

Instead of respecting things, we want to use them for ourselves and if it is difficult to use them, we want to conquer them.

As long as we have some definite idea about or some hope in the future, we cannot really be serious with the moment that exists right now.

Hell is not punishment, it's training.

Even though it is midnight, dawn is here; even though dawn comes, it is nighttime.

A student, filled with emotion and crying, implored, "Why is there so much suffering?"
Suzuki Roshi replied, "No reason.

When we realize the everlasting truth of "everything changes" and find our composure in it, we find ourselves in Nirvana.

If it is raining out, do not walk fast, because it is raining everywhere.

If you take pride in your attainment or become discouraged because of your idealistic effort, your practice will confine you by a thick wall.

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few

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.

It must be obvious ... that there is a contradiction in wanting to be perfectly secure in a universe whose very nature is momentariness and fluidity.

TRANSIENCY We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence.

It is necessary to remember what we have done, but we should not become attached to what we have done in some special sense.

You will always exist in the universe in one form or another.

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

To stop your mind does not mean to stop the activities of mind. It means your mind pervades your whole body.

When we become truly ourselves, we just become a swinging door, and we are purely independent of, and at the same time, dependent upon everything.

Everything you do is right, nothing you do is wrong, yet you must still make ceaseless effort.

There will always be war, but we must always work to oppose it.

To take this posture itself is the purpose of our practice.

In your very imperfections you will find the basis for your firm, way-seeking mind.

The more you practice zazen, the more you will be able to accept something as your own, whatever it is.

We have to study with our warm heart, not just with our brain.

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.

We ourselves cannot put any magic spells on this world. The world is its own magic.

To renounce things is not to give them up. It is to acknowledge that all things go away.

A Master who cannot bow to a disciple cannot bow to Buddha.

When you do something, you should burn yourself up completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.