365 Quotes by Shunryu Suzuki

  • Author Shunryu Suzuki
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    We have been taught that there is no gap between nighttime and daytime, no gap between you and I. This means oneness. But we do not emphasize even oneness. If it is one, there is no need to emphasize one.Suzuki, Shunryu. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (pp. 108-109). Shambhala. Kindle Edition.

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  • Author Shunryu Suzuki
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    When you do something, you should do it with your whole body and mind; you should be concentrated on what you do. You should do it completely, like a good bonfire. You should not be a smoky fire. You should burn yourself completely. If you do not burn yourself completely, a trace of yourself will be left in what you do.

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

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  • Author Shunryu Suzuki
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    To die is more important than trying to be alive. When we try to be alive, we have trouble. Rather than trying to be alive or active, if we can be calm and die or fade away into emptiness, then naturally we will be all right.

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  • Author Shunryu Suzuki
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    Concentration is not to try hard to watch something... Concentration means freedom... In zazen practice we say your mind should be concentrated on your breathing, but the way to keep your mind on your breathing is to forget all about yourself and just to sit and feel your breathing.

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  • Author Shunryu Suzuki
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    But as long as you have some fixed idea or are caught by some habitual way of doing things, you cannot appreciate things in their true sense.

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