40 Inspirational Shunryu Suzuki Quotes On Success
1. “When you sit, everything sits with you.” Shunryu Suzuki
2. “When you forget all your dualistic ideas, everything becomes your teacher.” Shunryu Suzuki
3. “Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer.” Shunryu Suzuki
4. “When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.” Shunryu Suzuki
5. “If you want to obtain perfect calmness you should not be bothered by the various images you find in your mind. Let them come, and let them go. Then they will be under control.” Shunryu Suzuki
6. “There’s nothing to do, there’s nowhere to go.” Shunryu Suzuki
7. “Everyone has love.” Shunryu Suzuki
8. “There is no need to have a deep understanding of Zen.” Shunryu Suzuki
9. “Wherever 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
10. “A garden is never finished.” Shunryu Suzuki
11. “Leave your front door and your back door open. Allow your thoughts to come and go. Just don’t serve them tea.” Shunryu Suzuki
12. “If you think your body and mind are two, that is wrong; if you think they are one, that is also wrong. Our body and mind are both two and one.” Shunryu Suzuki
13. “Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure.” Shunryu Suzuki
14. “Over and over we try and try and then we fail. Then, at some point, we learn to go deeper.” Shunryu Suzuki
15. “Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else.” Shunryu Suzuki
16. “When you are fooled by something else, the damage will not be so big. But when you are fooled by yourself, it is fatal. No more medicine.” Shunryu Suzuki
17. “You can’t make a date with enlightenment.” Shunryu Suzuki
18. “We must exist right here, right now!” Shunryu Suzuki
19. “You will always exist in the universe in one form or another.” Shunryu Suzuki
20. “True nature is watching the water. When you say, ‘My meditation is very poor’ here you have true nature, but do not realize it. Nothing exists but momentarily in its present form and color. One thing flows into another and cannot be grasped. The true purpose is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes. This is to put everything under control in its widest sense. Zen practice is to open up our small minds. So concentrating is just an aid to help you realize ‘Big Mind’, or the Mind that is everything. That everything is included within your mind is the essence of Mind. Even though waves arise the essence of your mind is pure.” Shunryu Suzuki
21. “Once you are not disturbed by the Blue Jay, the Blue Jay will come right into your heart, and you will be a Blue Jay.” Shunryu Suzuki
22. “There are, strictly speaking, no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity.” Shunryu Suzuki
23. “Just continue in your calm, ordinary practice and your character will be built up.” Shunryu Suzuki
24. “Keep your mind open to opportunities. They are closer than you think.” Shunryu Suzuki
25. “So for a period of time each day, try to sit, without moving, without expecting anything, as if you were in your last moment. Moment after moment you feel your last instant. In each inhalation and each exhalation, there are countless instants of time. Your time is to live in each instant.” Shunryu Suzuki
26. “I discovered that it is necessary, absolutely necessary, to believe in nothing.” Shunryu Suzuki
27. “From the emptiness the wondrous being appears.” Shunryu Suzuki
28. “When you bow, you should just bow: when you sit, you should just sit; when you eat, you should just eat.” Shunryu Suzuki
29. “To accept some idea of truth without experiencing it is like a painting of a cake on paper which you cannot eat.” Shunryu Suzuki
30. “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.” Shunryu Suzuki
31. “When we do not expect anything we can be ourselves.” Shunryu Suzuki
32. “Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine.” Shunryu Suzuki
33. “We should forget day by day, what we have done; and we should do something new. This is true non-attachment. To do something new, of course, we must know our past, and that is alright. But we should not keep holding on to what we have done; we should only reflect on it.” Shunryu Suzuki
34. “Our practice should be based on the ideal of selflessness.” Shunryu Suzuki
35. “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.” Shunryu Suzuki
36. “Because your attainment is always ahead, you will always be sacrificing yourself now for some ideal in the future.” Shunryu Suzuki
37. “Sometimes, simply by sitting, the soul collects wisdom.” Shunryu Suzuki
38. “Our mind should be free from traces of the past, just like flowers of spring.” Shunryu Suzuki
39. “Our way to practice is one step at a time, one breath at a time.” Shunryu Suzuki
40. “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.” Shunryu Suzuki
