Shunryu Suzuki: Something

Shunryu Suzuki was Japanese Buddhist missionary. Explore interesting quotes on something.

Shunryu Suzuki: 78 quotes2 likes

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

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

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

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

“When something dies is the greatest teaching.”

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

“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

“When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.”

Quoted in 'Enter the Heart of the Fire : A collection of Mystical Poems (1981) by Mary E. Giles and Kathryn Hohlwein