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
If you cannot bow to Buddha, you cannot be a Buddha. It is arrogance.
True communication depends upon our being straightforward with one another... But the best way to communicate may be just to sit without saying anything.
The world is its own magic.
After you have practiced for a while, you will realize that it is not possible to make rapid, extraordinary progress. Even though you try very hard, the progress you make is always little by little.
Zazen practice and everyday activity are one thing. We call zazen everyday life, and everyday life zazen.
When you accept everything, everything is beyond dimensions. The earth is not great nor a grain of sand small. In the realm of Great Activity picking up a grain of sand is the same as taking up the whole universe. To save one sentient being is to save all sentient beings. Your efforts of this moment to save one person is the same as the eternal merit of Buddha.
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.
We do not exist for the sake of something else. We exist for the sake of ourselves.
All descriptions of reality are limited expressions of the world of emptiness. Yet we attach to the descriptions and think they are reality. That is a mistake.
Each of you is perfect the way you are ... and you can use a little improvement.
There should not be any particular teaching. Teaching is in each moment.
We ourselves cannot put any magic spells on this world. The world is its own magic.
When something dies is the greatest teaching.
In the zazen posture, your mind and body have, great power to accept things as they are, whether agreeable or disagreeable.