Shunryu Suzuki Quotes

Leave your front door and your back door open. Allow your thoughts to come and go. Just don't serve them tea.

Everything is perfect, but there is a lot of room for improvement.

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

As soon as you see something, you already start to intellectualize it. As soon as you intellectualize something, it is no longer what you saw.

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

If you can just appreciate each thing, one by one, then you will have pure gratitude. Even though you observe just one flower, that one flower includes everything

Moment after moment everything comes out of nothingness. This is the true joy of life.

How much 'ego' do you need? Just enough so that you don't step in front of a bus.

In Japan we have the phrase, "Shoshin," which means "beginner's mind." Our "original mind" includes everything within itself. It is always rich and sufficient within itself. This does not mean a closed mind, but actually an empty mind and a ready mind. 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; in the expert's mind there are few.

Wherever you go you will find your teacher, as long as you have the eyes to see and the ears to hear.

When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything. The best way is to understand yourself, and then you will understand everything.

Instead of criticizing, find out how to help.

Nothing outside yourself can cause any trouble. You yourself make the waves in your mind. If you leave your mind as it is, it will become calm. This mind is called big mind.

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

Things are always changing, so nothing can be yours.

When my master and I were walking in the rain, he would say, 'Do not walk so fast, the rain is everywhere.'

You will always exist in the universe in one form or another.

Hell is not punishment, it's training.

It is easy to have calmness in inactivity, it is hard to have calmness in activity, but calmness in activity is true calmness.

When you are practicing zazen, do not try to stop your thinking. Let it stop by itself. If something comes into your mind, let it come in, and let it go out. It will not stay long. When you try to stop your thinking, it means you are bothered by it. Do not be bothered by anything. It appears as if something comes from outside your mind, but actually it is only the waves of your mind, and if you are not bothered by the waves, gradually they will become calmer and calmer.

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

In the Lotus Sutra, Buddha says to light up one corner - not the whole world. Just make it clear where you are.

Moment after moment, completely devote yourself to listening to your inner voice.

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

A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it....In this way our life should be understood. Then there is no problem.