Shunryu Suzuki Quotes - Page 7

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You may say that things happen just by chance, but I don't feel that way.

Shunryu Suzuki

May, Way, Chance

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Zen is not some fancy, special art of living. Our teaching is just to live, always in reality, in its exact sense. To make our effort, moment after moment, is our way.

Shunryu Suzuki

Art, Teaching, Reality

Shunryu Suzuki (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.77, Shambhala Publications

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

Shunryu Suzuki

Magic, World, This World

Shunryu Suzuki (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.46, Shambhala Publications

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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].

Shunryu Suzuki

Laughing, Would Be, Needs

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No matter what god or doctrine you believe in, if you become attached to it, your belief will be based more or less on a self-centered idea.

Shunryu Suzuki

God, Believe, Self

Shunryū Suzuki, Trudy Dixon, Richard Baker (2006). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.144, Shambhala Publications

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To be different is to have value. In this sense all things have equal, absolute value. Each thing has absolute value and thus is equal to everything else.

Shunryu Suzuki

Different, Equal, All Things

Shunryu Suzuki, Mel Weitsman, Michael Wenger (1999). “Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness: Zen Talks on the Sandokai”, p.41, Univ of California Press

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Only when you understand people, they may understand you. So even though you do not say anything, if you understand people there is some communication.

Shunryu Suzuki

Communication, People, Say Anything

"Sun-Faced Buddha, Moon-Faced Buddha". Lecture at the Zen Mountain Center, suzukiroshi.sfzc.org. August 17, 1971.

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In the mind of the beginner, there are many possibilities. In the mind of the expert there are few.

Shunryu Suzuki

Mind, Experts, Beginners

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When you sit in the full lotus position, your left foot is on your right thigh and your right foot is on your left thigh. When we cross our legs like this, even though we have a right leg and a left leg, they become one. The position expresses the oneness of duality: not two and not one. This is the most important teaching: not two, and not one. Our body and mind are not two and not one. 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.

Shunryu Suzuki

Teaching, Thinking, Two

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In your everyday life you always have opportunities for enlightenment. If you go to the rest room, there is a chance to attain enlightenment. When you cook, there is a chance to attain enlightenment. When you clean the floor, there is a chance to attain enlightenment.

Shunryu Suzuki

Life, Opportunity, Everyday

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The purpose of studying Buddhism is not to study Buddhism, but to study ourselves. That is why we have teaching. But the teaching is not ourselves. It is some explanation of ourselves. To study the teaching is to know yourselves. That is why we do not ever attach to the teaching, or to the teacher. The moment you meet a teacher you should leave the teacher, and you should be independent. You want a teacher so that you can be independent. So you study yourselves. You have the teacher for yourselves, not for the teacher.

Shunryu Suzuki

Teacher, Teaching, Independent

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The teaching which is written on paper is not the true teaching. Written teaching is a kind of food for your brain. Of course it is necessary to take some food for your brain, but it is more important to be yourself by practicing the right way of life.

Shunryu Suzuki

Being Yourself, Teaching, Learning

Shunryu Suzuki (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.10, Shambhala Publications

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The world is its own magic.

Shunryu Suzuki

Magic, World

Shunryu Suzuki (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.46, Shambhala Publications

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All descriptions of reality are limited expressions of the world of emptiness. Yet we attach to the descriptions and think they are reality. That is a mistake.

Shunryu Suzuki

Mistake, Reality, Thinking

"Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen". Book by Shunryū Suzuki. Chapter: "Letters From Emptiness", p. 33, 2002.

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Bowing is a very serious practice. You should be prepared to bow, even in your last moment. even though it is impossible to get rid of our self-centered desires, we have to do it. Our true nature wants us to.

Shunryu Suzuki

Self, Practice, Desire

Shunryu Suzuki (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.28, Shambhala Publications

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You see something or hear a sound, and there you have everything just as it is.
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Whatever you do, it should be an expression of the same deep activity. We should appreciate what we are doing. There is no preparation for something else.

Shunryu Suzuki

Expression, Appreciate, Preparation

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If enlightenment comes first, before thinking, before practice, your thinking and your practice will not be self-centered. By enlightenment I mean believing in nothing, believing in something which has no form or no color, which is ready to take form or color. This enlightenment is the immutable truth. It is on this orginal truth that our activity, our thinking, and our practice should be based.

Shunryu Suzuki

Buddhist, Believe, Mean

Shunryu Suzuki (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.109, Shambhala Publications

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If you understand real practice, then archery or other activities can be zen. If you don't understand how to practice archery in its true sense, then even though you practice very hard, what you acquire is just technique. It won't help you through and through. Perhaps you can hit the mark without trying, but without a bow and arrow you cannot do anything. If you understand the point of practice, then even without a bow and arrow the archery will help you. How you get that kind of power or ability is only through right practice.

Shunryu Suzuki

Real, Archery, Practice

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

Shunryu Suzuki

Cancer, Names, Feelings

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

Shunryu Suzuki

Pain, Practice, Not Good Enough

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When you say, "Wait a moment," you are bound by your karma; when you say "Yes I will," you are free.

Shunryu Suzuki

Karma, Procrastination, Waiting

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People say that practicing Zen is difficult, but there is a misunderstanding as to why. It is not difficult because it is hard to sit in the cross- legged position, or to attain enlightenment. It is difficult because it is hard to keep our mind pure and our practice pure in its fundamental sense.

Shunryu Suzuki

Practice, People, Mind

Shunryu Suzuki (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.1, Shambhala Publications

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When the restrictions you have do not limit you, this is what we mean by practice.

Shunryu Suzuki

Mean, Practice, Limits

Shunryu Suzuki (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.26, Shambhala Publications

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

Shunryu Suzuki

Thinking, Practice, Involved

Shunryu Suzuki (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.45, Shambhala Publications

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

Shunryu Suzuki

Practice, Everyday, Activity

Shunryu Suzuki (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.109, Shambhala Publications

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Born: May 18, 1904
Died: December 4, 1971
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