Shunryu Suzuki
Shunryu Suzuki
Shunryu Suzukiwas a Sōtō Zen monk and teacher who helped popularize Zen Buddhism in the United States, and is renowned for founding the first Buddhist monastery outside Asia. Suzuki founded San Francisco Zen Center, which along with its affiliate temples, comprises one of the most influential Zen organizations in the United States. A book of his teachings, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, is one of the most popular books on Zen and Buddhism in the West...
NationalityJapanese
ProfessionLeader
Date of Birth18 May 1904
CountryJapan
The secret of Soto Zen is just two words: not always so.... In Japanese, it's two words, three words in English. That is the secret of our practice.
Enlightenment is not a complete remedy.
There is no need to have a deep understanding of Zen.
We die, and we do not die.
Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as an enlightened person. There is only enlightened activity.
It is not after we understand the truth that we attain enlightenment. To realize the truth is to live - to exist here and now.
To give your sheep or cow a large, spacious meadow is the way to control him.
If you want to study Zen, you should forget all your previous ideas and just practice zazen and see what kind of experience you have in your practice. That is naturalness.
It is wisdom that is seeking for wisdom.
The best way to control cow and sheep is to give them a big grazing field.
Even if the sun were to rise from the west, the Bodhisattva has only one way.
If I tell you something, you will stick to it and limit your own capacity to find out for yourself.
The highest truth is daiji, translated as dai jiki in Chinese scriptures. This is the subject of the question the emperor asked Bodhidharma: "What is the First Principle?" Bodhidharma said, "I don't know." "I don't know" is the First Principle.