Shunryu Suzuki - Quotations

Quotations

• "Strictly speaking, there are no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity."
• "Our tendency is to be interested in something that is growing in the garden, not in the bare soil itself. But if you want to have a good harvest, the most important thing is to make the soil rich and cultivate it well."
• "So the secret is just to say 'Yes!' and jump off from here. Then there is no problem. It means to be yourself, always yourself, without sticking to an old self."
• "When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself."
• "Zazen practice is the direct expression of our true nature. Strictly speaking, for a human being, there is no other practice than this practice; there is no other way of life than this way of life."
• "Take care of things, and they will take care of you."
• "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few."
• "Life and death are the same thing. When we realize this fact, we have no fear of death anymore, nor actual difficulty in our life."
• "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."
• "The way that helps will not be the same; it changes according to the situation."
• “That bird is free – you owe me a bird.”
• "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."