Quote

Our way is to practice one step at a time, one breath at a time, with no gaining idea.

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
Time
Spirituality
Step
Steps
Practice
Spiritual
Idea
Gaining
Ideas
Breath
Way
Breaths

More quotes by Shunryu Suzuki

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The more you practice zazen, the more you will be able to accept something as your own, whatever it is.
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Concentration comes not from trying hard to focus on something, but from keeping your mind open and directing it at nothing.
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When you do something, you should burn yourself up completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.
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True communication depends upon our being straightforward with one another... But the best way to communicate may be just to sit without saying anything.
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In your big mind, everything has the same value...In your practice you should accept everything as it is, giving to each thing the same respect given to a Buddha. Here there is Buddhahood
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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.
Shunryu Suzuki
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Time goes from present to past.
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In the zazen posture, your mind and body have, great power to accept things as they are, whether agreeable or disagreeable.
Shunryu Suzuki
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The true practice to meditation is to sit as if you where drinking water when you are thirsty.
Shunryu Suzuki
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A tiger does not ignore or slight any small animal. The way he catches a mouse and catches and devours a cow are the same.
Shunryu Suzuki
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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.
Shunryu Suzuki
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Each of you is perfect the way you are ... and you can use a little improvement.
Shunryu Suzuki
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If you cannot bow to Buddha, you cannot be a Buddha. It is arrogance.
Shunryu Suzuki
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Because all existence is founded upon the ever-present state of union, everything already exists in a state of tranquility. However, this state of tranquility is masked from us by our assumption that there is a separation, that there is a problem.
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In the mind of the beginner, there are many possibilities. In the mind of the expert there are few.
Shunryu Suzuki
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People who know the state of emptiness will always be able to dissolve their problems by constancy.
Shunryu Suzuki
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When the restrictions you have do not limit you, this is what we mean by practice.
Shunryu Suzuki
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Nothing outside yourself can cause any trouble. You yourself make the waves in your mind. If you leave your mind as it is, it will become calm. This mind is called big mind.
Shunryu Suzuki
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No matter what god or doctrine you believe in, if you become attached to it, your belief will be based more or less on a self-centered idea.
Shunryu Suzuki
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People say that practicing Zen is difficult, but there is a misunderstanding as to why. It is not difficult because it is hard to sit in the cross- legged position, or to attain enlightenment. It is difficult because it is hard to keep our mind pure and our practice pure in its fundamental sense.
Shunryu Suzuki