In short, we can say that we trust ourselves completely, without thinking, without feeling, without discriminating between good and bad, right and wrong. Because we respect ourselves, because we put faith in our life, we sit. Shunryu Suzuki
It is because our way of observing things is deeply rooted in our self-centered ideas that we are disappointed when we find everything has only a tentative existence. But when we actually realize this truth, we will have no suffering. Shunryu Suzuki
There are, strictly speaking, no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity. Shunryu Suzuki
It is easy to have calmness in inactivity, it is hard to have calmness in activity, but calmness in activity is true calmness. Shunryu Suzuki
Leave your front door and your back door open. Allow your thoughts to come and go. Just don’t serve them tea. Shunryu Suzuki
Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else. Shunryu Suzuki
Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality. Shunryu Suzuki
If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few. Shunryu Suzuki
Preparing food is not just about yourself and others. It is about everything! Shunryu Suzuki
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
You think that you can only establish true practice after you attain enlightenment, but it is not so. True practice is established in delusion, in frustration. If you make some mistake, that is where to establish your practice. There is no other place for you to establish your practice. We talk about enlightenment, but in […]
To give your sheep or cow a large spacious meadow is the way to control him. Shunryu Suzuki
Wherever you go you will find your teacher, as long as you have the eyes to see and the ears to hear. Shunryu Suzuki
You might think you could practice zazen much better if you had no problem, but actually some problem is necessary. It doesn’t have to be a big one. Through the difficulty you have you can practice zazen. This is an especially meaningful point, which is why Dogen Zenji says, “Practice and enlightenment are one.” Practice […]
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 original truth that […]
As long as you seek for something, you will get the shadow of reality and not reality itself. Shunryu Suzuki
The only way is to enjoy your life. Even though you are practicing zazen, counting your breath like a snail, you can enjoy your life, maybe much better than making a trip to the moon. That is why we practice zazen. The kind of life you have is not so important. The most important thing […]
When my master and I were walking in the rain, he would say, “Do not walk so fast, the rain is everywhere.” Shunryu Suzuki
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. Shunryu Suzuki
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
