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When you do something, you should burn yourself up completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.

Shunryu Suzuki

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Shunryu Suzuki
Age: 67 †
Born: 1904
Born: May 18
Died: 1971
Died: December 4
Bhikkhu
Leader
Missionary
Philosopher
Writer
Atlanta
Georgia
Like
Bonfire
Trace
Burn
Leaving
Completely
Effort
Something
Good

More quotes by Shunryu Suzuki

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An enlightened person does not ignore things and does not stick to things, not even to the truth.
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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.
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If you continue this simple practice every day, you will obtain some wonderful power. Before you attain it, it is something wonderful, but after you attain it, it is nothing special.
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The way that helps will not be the same it changes according to the situation.
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How much 'ego' do you need? Just enough so that you don't step in front of a bus.
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A Master who cannot bow to a disciple cannot bow to Buddha.
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The true practice to meditation is to sit as if you where drinking water when you are thirsty.
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Moment after moment, completely devote yourself to listening to your inner voice.
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It is easy to have calmness in inactivity, it is hard to have calmness in activity, but calmness in activity is true calmness.
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When he bowed to all those buddhas, the buddhas he bowed to were beyond his own understanding. Again and again he did it.
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If you were not born in this world, there would be no need to die. To be born in this world is to die, to disappear [laughing].
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If you want to enjoy the movie, you should know that it is the combination of film and light and white screen, and that the most important thing is to have a plain, white screen.
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A flower falls, even though we love it and a weed grows, even though we do not love it....In this way our life should be understood. Then there is no problem.
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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.
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We do not exist for the sake of something else. We exist for the sake of ourselves.
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Let your ears hear without trying to hear. Let the mind think without trying to think and without trying to stop it. That is practice.
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You will always exist in the universe in one form or another.
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The secret of zen is just two words: not... always... so.
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Our mind should be free from traces of the past, just like the flowers of spring.
Shunryu Suzuki
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The goal of our life’s effort is to reach the other shore, Nirvana. Prajna paramita, the true wisdom of life, is that in each step of the way, the other shore is actually reached.
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