Shunryu Suzuki Quotes
Top 100 wise famous quotes and sayings by Shunryu Suzuki
Shunryu Suzuki Famous Quotes & Sayings
Discover top inspirational quotes from Shunryu Suzuki on Wise Famous Quotes.
But as long as you think you are practicing zazen for the sake of something, that is not true practice.
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.
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 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.
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.
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].
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.
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.
If you think you will get something from practicing zazen, already you are involved in impure practice.
But the way of practice is just to be concentrated on your breathing with the right posture and with great, pure effort.
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.
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.
Tai Shimano visited Shunryu Suzuki. "How are you feeling these days?" Suzuki replied, "They have a new name for me: Cancer!"
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.
The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the experts, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all possibilities.
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.
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.
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.
A student, filled with emotion and crying, implored, "Why is there so much suffering?"
Suzuki Roshi replied, "No reason.
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 you take pride in your attainment or become discouraged because of your idealistic effort, your practice will confine you by a thick wall.
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.
It is necessary to remember what we have done, but we should not become attached to what we have done in some special sense.
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.
The more you practice zazen, the more you will be able to accept something as your own, whatever it is.