Quote

Happiness is sorrow sorrow is happiness. There is happiness in difficulty difficulty in happiness. Even though the ways we feel are different, they are not really different, in essence they are the same. This is the true understanding transmitted from Buddha to us.

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
Even
Ways
Really
Though
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Understanding
Transmitted
Happiness
Buddha
True
Buddhist
Feel
Difficulty
Feels
Sorrow
Different
Essence

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In the Lotus Sutra, Buddha says to light up one corner - not the whole world. Just make it clear where you are.
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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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You see something or hear a sound, and there you have everything just as it is. [...] Whatever you do, it should be an expression of the same deep activity. We should appreciate what we are doing. There is no preparation for something else.
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Time goes from present to past.
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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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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.
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To express yourself as you are, without any intentional, fancy way of adjusting yourself, is the most important thing.
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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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Religion is not any particular teaching. Religion is everywhere.
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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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We do not exist for the sake of something else. We exist for the sake of ourselves.
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The world is its own magic.
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There is no connection between I myself yesterday and I myself in this moment
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It is wisdom that is seeking for wisdom.
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To give your sheep or cow a large, spacious meadow is the way to control him.
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We do not slight the idea of enlightenment, but the most important thing is this moment, not some day in the future. We have to make our effort in this moment. This is the most important thing for our practice.
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Life and death are the same thing. When we realize this fact, we have no fear of death anymore, nor actual difficulty in our life.
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