Shunryu Suzuki: Practice

“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

“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

“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