Shunryu Suzuki Quotes

79 Sourced Quotes

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

Shunryu Suzuki
In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's there are few.

Shunryu Suzuki
The more you practice zazen, the more you will be able to accept something as your own, whatever it is.

Shunryu Suzuki
There is no connection between I myself yesterday and I myself in this moment

Shunryu Suzuki
The practice of Zen mind is beginner's mind. The innocence of the first inquiry—what am I?—is needed throughout Zen practice. The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities. It is the kind of mind which can see things as they are, which step by step and in a flash can realize the original nature of everything.

Shunryu Suzuki
Big mind is something to express, not something to figure out. Big mind is something you have, not something to seek for.

Shunryu Suzuki
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
To cook is not just to prepare food for someone or to cook for yourself; it is to express your sincerity. So when you cook you should express yourself in your activity in the kitchen. You should allow yourself plenty of time.

Shunryu Suzuki
Nothing outside yourself can cause any trouble. You yourself make the waves in your mind. If you leave your mind as it is, it will become calm. This mind is called big mind.

Shunryu Suzuki
The seed has no idea of being some particular plant, but it has its own form and is in perfect harmony with the ground, with its surroundings... and there is no trouble. This is what we mean by naturalness.

Shunryu Suzuki
When we inhale, the air comes into the inner world. When we exhale, the air goes out to the outer world. The inner world is limitless, and the outer world is also limitless. We say "inner world" or "outer world" but actually, There is just one whole world.

Shunryu Suzuki
A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it....In this way our life should be understood. Then there is no problem.

Shunryu Suzuki
People who know the state of emptiness will always be able to dissolve their problems by constancy.

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

Shunryu Suzuki
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.

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

Shunryu Suzuki
When you are just you, without thinking or trying to say something special, just saying what is on your mind and how you feel, then there is naturally self-respect.

Shunryu Suzuki
And we should forget, day by day, what we have done; this is true non-attachment. And we should do something new. To do something new, of course we must know our past, and this is alright. But we should not keep holding onto anything we have done; we should only reflect on it. And we must have some idea of what we should do in the future. But the future is the future, the past is the past; now we should work on something new.

Shunryu Suzuki
It is not after we understand the truth that we attain enlightenment. To realize the truth is to live - to exist here and now.

Shunryu Suzuki
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.

Shunryu Suzuki
If you want to study Zen, you should forget all your previous ideas and just practice zazen and see what kind of experience you have in your practice. That is naturalness.

Shunryu Suzuki
An enlightened person does not ignore things and does not stick to things, not even to the truth.

Shunryu Suzuki
Let your ears hear without trying to hear. Let the mind think without trying to think and without trying to stop it. That is practice.

Shunryu Suzuki
If you continue this simple practice every day, you will obtain some wonderful power. Before you attain it, it is something wonderful, but after you attain it, it is nothing special.

Shunryu Suzuki
Usually when someone believes in a particular religion, his attitude becomes more and more a sharp angle pointing away from himself. In our way the point of the angle is always toward ourselves.

Shunryu Suzuki
Instead of respecting things, we want to use them for ourselves and if it is difficult to use them, we want to conquer them.

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

Shunryu Suzuki
So I say, 'Oh, I am sorry but soon you will see the bright sunrise every morning and beautiful sunset in the evening, every evening, but right now perhaps you…under your situation it may be impossible to see the beautiful sunset or bright sunrise, or beautiful flower in your garden, and it is impossible to take care of your garden, but soon you will see the beauty of the flowers and you will cut some flowers for your room.' When you start to do this kind of thing you are alright. Don't worry a bit. It means when you become you, yourself, and when you see things as they are, and when you become at one with your surrounding, in its true sense, there is true self.

Shunryu Suzuki
If 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 Suzuki
We do not exist for the sake of something else. We exist for the sake of ourselves.

Shunryu Suzuki