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If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything it is open to everything.

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
Empty
Meditation
Ready
Open
Anything
Everything
Mind
Always

More quotes by Shunryu Suzuki

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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.
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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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To cook is not just to prepare food for someone or to cook for yourself it is to express your sincerity. So when you cook you should express yourself in your activity in the kitchen. You should allow yourself plenty of time.
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The purpose of our practice is just to be yourself.
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Each one of us must make his own true way, and when we do, that way will express the universal way.
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To be different is to have value. In this sense all things have equal, absolute value. Each thing has absolute value and thus is equal to everything else.
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There will always be war, but we must always work to oppose it.
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Zen is everywhere.... But for you, Zen is right here.
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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.
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Discipline is creating the situation.
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Zazen practice and everyday activity are one thing. We call zazen everyday life, and everyday life zazen.
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When you say, Wait a moment, you are bound by your karma when you say Yes I will, you are free.
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A Master who cannot bow to a disciple cannot bow to Buddha.
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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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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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Take care of things, and they will take care of you.
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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An enlightened person does not ignore things and does not stick to things, not even to the truth.
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The way that helps will not be the same it changes according to the situation.
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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