Quote

Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine.

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
Excitement
Simplicity
Everyday
Kindness
Meditation
Routine
Freedom
Usual
Kind
Concentration
Buddhist

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To give your sheep or cow a large, spacious meadow is the way to control him.
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Take care of things, and they will take care of you.
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When the restrictions you have do not limit you, this is what we mean by practice.
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If you cannot bow to Buddha, you cannot be a Buddha. It is arrogance.
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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.
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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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If it is raining out, do not walk fast, because it is raining everywhere.
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In your everyday life you always have opportunities for enlightenment. If you go to the rest room, there is a chance to attain enlightenment. When you cook, there is a chance to attain enlightenment. When you clean the floor, there is a chance to attain enlightenment.
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When we become truly ourselves, we just become a swinging door, and we are purely independent of, and at the same time, dependent upon everything.
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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.
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The world is its own magic.
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Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.
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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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To accept some idea of truth without experiencing it is like a painting of a cake on paper which you cannot eat.
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There should not be any particular teaching. Teaching is in each moment.
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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.
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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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We must exist right here, right now!
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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.
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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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