Shunryu Suzuki Quotes

So without any intentional, fancy way of adjusting yourself, to express yourself freely as you are i...

Those who are attached only to the result of their effort will not have any chance to appreciate it,...

To have some deep feeling about Buddhism is not the point; we just do what we should do, like eating...

In your practice you should accept everything as it is, giving to each thing the same respect given ...

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

To live in the realm of Buddha nature means to die as a small being, moment after moment.

In our practice we have no particular purpose or goal, nor any special object of worship.

The important thing in our understanding is to have a smooth, free-thinking way of observation. We h...

The best way to control people is to encourage them to be mischievous...To give your sheep or cow a ...

When you listen to someone, you should give up all your preconceived ideas and your subjective opini...

When you do something, you should do it with your whole body and mind; you should be concentrated on...

True communication depends upon our being straightforward with one another... But the best way to co...

A mind full of preconceived ideas, subjective intentions, or habits it not open to things as they ar...

The true purpose [of Zen] is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let ev...

Zen is not some fancy, special art of living. Our teaching is just to live, always in reality, in it...

Zen is nothing to get excited about.

While you are continuing this practice, week after week, year after year, your experience will becom...

We emphasize straightforwardness. You should be true to your feelings, and to your mind, expressing ...

In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few

It is said that there are four kinds of horses: excellent ones, good ones, poor ones, and bad ones. ...

Before we were born we had no feeling; we were one with the universe. This is called "mind-only," or...

When we say something, our subjective intention or situation is always involved. So there is no perf...

Even though you read much Zen literature, you must read each sentence with a fresh mind. You should ...

Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. Unfortunately,...

I discovered that it is necessary, absolutely necessary, to believe in nothing. That is, we have to ...

The best way to contorl people is to encourage them to be mischievous...To give your sheep or cow a ...

In your very imperfections you will find the basis for your firm, way-seeking mind.

Even in zazen you will lose yourself. When you become sleepy, or when your mind starts to wander abo...

Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine.

Whereever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are o...

Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. But unfortunat...

In your big mind, everything has the same value...In your practice you should accept everything as i...

In zazen, leave your front door and your back door open. Let thoughts come and go. Just don't serve ...

Christopher McCandless:"I will miss you too, but you are wrong if you think that the joy of life com...

One time Marian showed me some sand. When she gave it to me, she said, "These are very interesting s...

To die is more important than trying to be alive. When we try to be alive, we have trouble. Rather t...

A student, filled with emotion and crying, implored, "Why is there so much suffering?"Suzuki Roshi r...