Shunryu Suzuki - Zazen Quotes

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

Shunryu Suzuki
What is true zazen? What do you mean by Zen becomes Zen and you become you? You become you is a very important point. You become you. When you become you, even though you are in bed, you may not be you most of the time. Even though you are sitting here, I wonder whether you are you in its true sense. So to be you is zazen.

Shunryu Suzuki
Practice does not mean that whatever you do, even lying down, is zazen. When the restrictions you have do not limit you, this is what we mean by practice….
When you sit, you will sit. When you eat, you will eat…. If you say, It doesn't matter, it means that you are making some excuse to do something in your own way with your small mind. It means that you are to some particular thing or way. That is not what we mean when we say, Just to sit is enough, or Whatever you do is zazen. Of course, everything you do is zazen, but if so, there is no need to say it.

Shunryu Suzuki
Zazen practice is the direct expression of our true nature. Strictly speaking, for a human being, there is no other practice than this practice; there is no other way of life than this way of life.

Shunryu Suzuki
The mind we have when we practice zazen is the great mind: we don't try to see anything; we stop conceptual thinking; we stop emotional activity; we just sit. Whatever happens to us, we are not bothered. We just sit. It is like something happening in the great sky. Whatever kind of bird flies through it, the sky doesn't care. That is the mind transmitted from Buddha to us.

Shunryu Suzuki
So it is not a matter of whether it is possible to attain Buddhahood, or if it is possible to make a tile a jewel. But just to work, just to live in this world with this understanding is the most important point, and that is our practice. That is true zazen.

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

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

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

Shunryu Suzuki