Shunryu Suzuki Quotes

On this page you can find the TOP of Shunryu Suzuki's best quotes! We hope you will find some sayings from Shunryu Suzuki's in our collection, which will inspire you to new achievements! There are currently 201 quotes on this page collected since May 18, 1904! Share our collection of quotes with your friends on social media so that they can find something to inspire them!
  • If you want to read a letter from the Buddha's world, it is necessary to understand Buddha's world.

  • The point we emphasize is strong confidence in our original nature.

    Shunryu Suzuki (2018). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice”, p.28, House of Majied Publications via PublishDrive
  • 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, Mel Weitsman, Michael Wenger (1999). “Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness: Zen Talks on the Sandokai”, p.30, Univ of California Press
  • Instead of criticizing, find out how to help.

  • If you understand real practice, then archery or other activities can be zen. If you don't understand how to practice archery in its true sense, then even though you practice very hard, what you acquire is just technique. It won't help you through and through. Perhaps you can hit the mark without trying, but without a bow and arrow you cannot do anything. If you understand the point of practice, then even without a bow and arrow the archery will help you. How you get that kind of power or ability is only through right practice.

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

  • We die, and we do not die.

    Shunryu Suzuki (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.7, Shambhala Publications
  • 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 (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.32, Shambhala Publications
  • If you think you will get something from practicing zazen, already you are involved in impure practice.

    Shunryu Suzuki (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.45, Shambhala Publications
  • Whereever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are one with everything. That is more true than I can say, and more true than you can hear.

  • People say that practicing Zen is difficult, but there is a misunderstanding as to why. It is not difficult because it is hard to sit in the cross- legged position, or to attain enlightenment. It is difficult because it is hard to keep our mind pure and our practice pure in its fundamental sense.

    Shunryu Suzuki (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.1, Shambhala Publications
  • How much 'ego' do you need? Just enough so that you don't step in front of a bus.

  • Without ignoring the objective side of the truth, it has to be subjective as well, Buddha's whole teaching just for you, something you can taste. Not something to believe in but to discover, to experience.

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

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

  • 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 (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.99, Shambhala Publications
  • Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer.

  • A Master who cannot bow to a disciple cannot bow to Buddha.

  • When you do not realize that you are one with the river, or one with the universe, you have fear. Whether it is separated into drops or not, water is water. Our life and death are the same thing. When we realize this fact, we have no fear of death anymore.

  • When you say, "Wait a moment," you are bound by your karma; when you say "Yes I will," you are free.

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

    Shunryu Suzuki, Mel Weitsman, Michael Wenger (1999). “Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness: Zen Talks on the Sandokai”, p.53, Univ of California Press
  • 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.

  • Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as an enlightened person. There is only enlightened activity.

  • You see something or hear a sound, and there you have everything just as it is. [...] Whatever you do, it should be an expression of the same deep activity. We should appreciate what we are doing. There is no preparation for something else.

  • As long as you seek for something, you will get the shadow of reality and not reality itself.

    Reality  
  • It must be obvious...that there is a contradiction in wanting to be perfectly secure in a universe whose very nature is momentariness and fluidity.

  • To find perfect composure in the midst of change is to find nirvana.

  • In order not to leave any traces, when you do something, you should do it with your whole body and mind; you should be concentrated on what you do. You should do it completely, like a good bonfire. You should not be a smoky fire. You should burn yourself completely. If you do not burn yourself completely, a trace of yourself will be left in what you do. You should not have any remains after you do something. But this does not mean to forget all about it.

    Mean  
    "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind".
  • Tai Shimano visited Shunryu Suzuki. "How are you feeling these days?" Suzuki replied, "They have a new name for me: Cancer!"

  • Discipline is creating the situation.

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  • We hope you have found the saying you were looking for in our collection! At the moment, we have collected 201 quotes from the Shunryu Suzuki, starting from May 18, 1904! We periodically replenish our collection so that visitors of our website can always find inspirational quotes by authors from all over the world! Come back to us again!