Shunryu Suzuki Quotes

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

In Japan we have the phrase, "Shoshin," which means "beginner's mind." Our "original mind" includes everything within itself. It is always rich and sufficient within itself. This does not mean a closed mind, but actually an empty mind and a ready mind. 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.

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

Ego is a social institution with no physical reality. The ego is simply your symbol of yourself.

To have some deep feeling about Buddhism is not the point; we just do what we should do, like eating supper and going to bed. This is Buddhism.

There should not be any particular teaching. Teaching is in each moment.

Faith is a state of openness or trust...In other words, a person who is fanatic in matters of religion, and clings to certain ideas about the nature of God and the universe, becomes a person who has no faith at all. Instead they are holding tight. But the attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to the truth, whatever it might turn out to be.

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

Although we have no actual written communications from the world of emptiness, we have some hints or suggestions about what is going on in that world, and that is, you might say, enlightenment. When you see plum blossoms or hear the sound of a small stone hitting bamboo, that is a letter from the world of emptiness.

Take care of things, and they will take care of you.

When you live completely in each moment, without expecting anything, you have no idea of time.

I think you're all enlightened, until you open your mouths.

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

True communication depends upon our being straightforward with one another... But the best way to communicate may be just to sit without saying anything.

If you try to observe the precepts, that is not true observation of precepts. When you observe the precepts without trying to observe the precepts, that is true observation of the precepts.

Preparing food is not just about yourself and others. It is about everything!

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

So for a period of time each day, try to sit, without moving, without expecting anything, as if you were in your last moment. Moment after moment you feel your last instant. In each inhalation and each exhalation there are countless instants of time. Your intention is to live in each instant.

In the zazen posture, your mind and body have, great power to accept things as they are, whether agreeable or disagreeable.

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.

Discipline is creating the situation.

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

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.

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

If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything.

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.

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

If you want to enjoy the movie, you should know that it is the combination of film and light and white screen, and that the most important thing is to have a plain, white screen.

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

You can't make a date with enlightenment.

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

What we call "I" is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale.

Don't move. Just die over and over. Don't anticipate. Nothing can save you now because you have only this moment. Not even enlightenment will help you now because there are no other moments. With no future, be true to yourself and express yourself fully. Don't move.

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

The true practice to meditation is to sit as if you where drinking water when you are thirsty.

Even if the sun were to rise from the west, the Bodhisattva has only one way.

Religion is not any particular teaching. Religion is everywhere.

The secret of zen is just two words: not... always... so.

We do not slight the idea of enlightenment, but the most important thing is this moment, not some day in the future. We have to make our effort in this moment. This is the most important thing for our practice.

Enlightenment is not a complete remedy.

Wabi means spare, impoverished; simple and functional. It connotes a transcendence of fad and fashion. The spirit of wabi imbues all the Zen arts, from calligraphy to karate, from the tea ceremony to Zen archery.

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

If your practice is good, you may become proud of it. What you do is good, but something more is added to it. Pride is extra. Right effort is to get rid of something extra.

In reflecting on our problems, we should include ourselves.

We must exist right here, right now!

Christopher McCandless:"I will miss you too, but you are wrong if you think that the joy of life comes principally from the joy of human relationships. God's place is all around us, it is in everything and in anything we can experience. People just need to change the way they look at things.