Shunryu Suzuki Quotes (39 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

Works

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Shunryu Suzuki

Shunryu Suzuki: 39 quotes 2 likes

Famous Shunryu Suzuki Quotes

“In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's there are few.”

Shunryu Suzuki

Prologue
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (1973)
Variant: In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice

“Communication is — start by understanding — your own understanding about people. Even though you want them to understand you, you know, it is — unless you understand people, it is almost impossible.”

Shunryu Suzuki

Sun-Faced Buddha, Moon-Faced Buddha lecture at the Zen Mountain Center (17 August 1971) http://suzukiroshi.sfzc.org/archives/index.cgi/710817V.html
Context: Communication is — start by understanding — your own understanding about people. Even though you want them to understand you, you know, it is — unless you understand people, it is almost impossible. Don't you think so? Only when you understand people, they may understand you. So even though you do not say anything, if you understand people there is some communication.

“Calmness of mind does not mean you should stop your activity. Real calmness should be found in activity itself. We say, "It is easy to have calmness in inactivity, it is hard to have calmness in activity, but calmness in activity is true calmness.”

Shunryu Suzuki

Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice

“Each of you is perfect the way you are… and you can use a little improvement.”

Shunryu Suzuki

“We sit to express our true nature”

Shunryu Suzuki

“A student, filled with emotion and crying, implored, "Why is there so much suffering?"

Suzuki Roshi replied, "No reason.”

Shunryu Suzuki

Source: Zen Is Right Here: Teaching Stories and Anecdotes of Shunryu Suzuki, Author of "ZEN Mind, Beginner's Mind"

Shunryu Suzuki Quotes about the trip

“It is a big mistake to think that the best way to express yourself is to do whatever you want, acting as you please. This is not expressing yourself. If you know what to do exactly, and you do it, then you can express yourself fully.”

Shunryu Suzuki

Express Yourself Fully (page 8)
Not Always So, practicing the true spirit of Zen (2002)

“When we do not expect anything we can be ourselves. That is our way, to live fully in each moment of time.”

Shunryu Suzuki

Shikantaza: Living Fully In Each Moment (page 4)
Not Always So, practicing the true spirit of Zen (2002)

“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 book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Pt. 1 : Right Practice "The Marrow of Zen", p. 29
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (1973)

“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.””

Shunryu Suzuki book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Of course, everything you do is zazen, but if so, there is no need to say it.
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (1973), p. 41

Shunryu Suzuki Quotes

“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

Lecture in Los Altos, CA (1 September 1967)
Context: 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.

Sense

“You may say you attained some stage in your practice. But that is just a trivial event in your long life.”

Shunryu Suzuki

"Three Lecture Excerpts from Shunryu Suzuki Roshi" http://www.berkeleyzencenter.org/Lectures/may2000.shtml in Newsletter (May 2000)
Context: You may say you attained some stage in your practice. But that is just a trivial event in your long life. It is like saying the ocean is round, or like a jewel, or palace. For a hungry ghost the ocean is a pool of blood; for a dragon the ocean is a palace; for a fish it is his house; for a human being it is water. There must be various understandings. When the ocean is a palace, it is a palace. You cannot say it is not a palace. For a dragon it is actually a palace. If you laugh at a fish who says it is a palace, Buddha will laugh at you who say it is two o'clock, three o'clock. It is the same thing.

Life

“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

Lecture in Los Altos, CA (1 September 1967)
Context: 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.

World , Understanding

“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.”

Shunryu Suzuki

Lecture in Los Altos, CA (1 September 1967) http://www.shunryusuzuki.com/suzuki/transcripts-pdf/67-pdf/67-08-31U.pdf
Context: 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.

“Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else.”

Shunryu Suzuki

Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice

“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, but in the expert's mind there are few.”

Shunryu Suzuki

“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.”

Shunryu Suzuki

Star , Sun

“Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.”

Shunryu Suzuki

Wherever You Are, Enlightenment Is There (page127)
Not Always So, practicing the true spirit of Zen (2002)

Reality , Perfection

“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.”

Shunryu Suzuki

Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice

Feeling

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

Shunryu Suzuki

Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice

“The most important point is to accept yourself and stand on your two feet.”

Shunryu Suzuki

“We do not exist for the sake of something else. We exist for the sake of ourselves.”

Shunryu Suzuki

Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice

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

Shunryu Suzuki

Life , Sea

“When something dies is the greatest teaching.”

Shunryu Suzuki

Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice

“To live is enough.”

Shunryu Suzuki

Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice

“Time goes from present to past.”

Shunryu Suzuki

Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice

Time , Past

“The basic teaching of Buddhism is the teaching of transiency or change. That everything changes is the basic truth for each existence. No one can deny this truth and all teaching of Buddhism is condensed within it. This is the teaching for all of us. Wherever we go this teaching is true. This teaching is also understood as the teaching of selflessness. Because each existence is in constant change, there is no abiding self.”

Shunryu Suzuki book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Part 4, No. 1. "Transiency"
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (1973)

Truth , Change

“After you have practiced for a while, you will realize that it is not possible to make rapid, extraordinary progress. Even though you try very hard, the progress you make is always little by little. It is not like going out in a shower in which you know when you get wet. In a fog, you do not know you are getting wet, but as you keep walking you get wet little by little. If your mind has ideas of progress, you may say, "Oh, this pace is terrible!" But actually it is not. When you get wet in a fog it is very difficult to dry yourself. So there is no need to worry about progress.”

Shunryu Suzuki book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Pt. 1 : Right Practice, "Bowing"
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (1973)

Idea

“If you take pride in your attainment or become discouraged because of your idealistic effort, your practice will confine you by a thick wall.”

Shunryu Suzuki book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Pt. 3 : Right Understanding, "Naturalness"
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (1973)

Effort

“The purpose of studying Buddhism is not to study Buddhism but to study ourselves. You are not your body. You are the Big Activity. You are just expressing the smallest particle of the Big Activity. That is all. But when you become attached to a temporal expression of the Big Activity, it is time to talk about Buddhism.”

Shunryu Suzuki book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Part 3, No. 3 "Study Yourself"
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (1973)

Study , Time

“There are, strictly speaking, no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity.”

Shunryu Suzuki

Quoted in Zen Millionaire : The Investor's Guide to the "Other Side" (2007) by Paul B. Farrell
Variant: Strictly speaking, there are no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity.

People

“The highest truth is daiji, translated as dai jiki in Chinese scriptures. This is the subject of the question the emperor asked Bodhidharma: "What is the First Principle?" Bodhidharma said, "I don't know."”

Shunryu Suzuki

"I don't know" is the First Principle.
Lotus Sutra No. 6 lecture at the Zen Mountain Center (February 1968) http://www.cuke.com/Cucumber%20Project/lectures/transcripts-new-2012/srl-68-02-00F-f.html

Truth , Question

“All descriptions of reality are limited expressions of the world of emptiness. Yet we attach to the descriptions and think they are reality. That is a mistake.”

Shunryu Suzuki

Letters From Emptiness (page 33)
Not Always So, practicing the true spirit of Zen (2002)

World , Thinking , Reality

“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

Respect For Things (page 81)
Not Always So, practicing the true spirit of Zen (2002)