Shunryu Suzuki quotes - page 2

Each of you is perfect the way you are... and you can use a little improvement. (Shunryu Suzuki)
Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. But unfortunately, although it is true, it is difficult for us to accept it. Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer. View quote
Shunryu Suzuki
If you cannot bow to Buddha, you cannot be a Buddha. It is arrogance. View quote
Shunryu Suzuki
We sit to express our true nature. View quote
Shunryu Suzuki
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. View quote
Shunryu Suzuki
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. View quote
Shunryu Suzuki
The most important point is to accept yourself and stand on your two feet. View quote
Shunryu Suzuki
To live is enough. View quote
Shunryu Suzuki
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. View quote
Shunryu Suzuki
The world is its own magic. View quote
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.”. (Shunryu Suzuki)
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. View quote
Shunryu Suzuki
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. View quote
Shunryu Suzuki
You may say you attained some stage in your practice. But that is just a trivial event in your long life. View quote
Shunryu Suzuki
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. View quote
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. View quote
Shunryu Suzuki
Preparing food is not just about yourself and others. It is about everything! View quote
Shunryu Suzuki
If you think your body and mind are two, that is wrong; if you think that they are one, that is also wrong. Our body and mind are both two and one. View quote
Shunryu Suzuki
When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. View quote
Shunryu Suzuki
Discipline is creating the situation. View quote
Shunryu Suzuki
There is no need to have a deep understanding of Zen. (Shunryu Suzuki)
We must exist right here, right now! View quote
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. View quote
Shunryu Suzuki
Leave your front door and your back door open. Allow your thoughts to come and go. Just don't serve them tea. View quote
Shunryu Suzuki
Moment after moment everything comes out of nothingness. This is the true joy of life. View quote
Shunryu Suzuki