Ego is a social institution with no physical reality. The ego is simply your symbol of yourself.
Shunryu SuzukiSo the secret is just to say 'Yes!' and jump off from here. Then there is no problem. It means to be yourself, always yourself, without sticking to an old self.
Shunryu SuzukiTo accept some idea of truth without experiencing it is like a painting of a cake on paper which you cannot eat.
Shunryu SuzukiWhen my master and I were walking in the rain, he would say, 'Do not walk so fast, the rain is everywhere.'
Shunryu SuzukiIf you can just appreciate each thing, one by one, then you will have pure gratitude. Even though you observe just one flower, that one flower includes everything
Shunryu SuzukiIf 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