Quote

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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Shunryu Suzuki
Age: 67 †
Born: 1904
Born: May 18
Died: 1971
Died: December 4
Bhikkhu
Leader
Missionary
Philosopher
Writer
Atlanta
Georgia
Accept
Accepting
Whether
Power
Body
Great
Agreeable
Mind
Disagreeable
Things
Posture

More quotes by Shunryu Suzuki

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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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Life without zazen is like winding your clock without setting it. It runs perfectly well, but it dosen't tell time.
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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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The purpose of our practice is just to be yourself.
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When you sit, everything sits with you.
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Someone was sitting in front of a sunflower, watching the sunflower, a cup of sun, and so I tried it too. It was wonderful I felt the whole universe in the sunflower. That was my experience. Sunflower meditation. A wonderful confidence appeared. You can see the whole universe in a flower.
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There are, strictly speaking, no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity.
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Our way is to practice one step at a time, one breath at a time, with no gaining idea.
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Zen is not some fancy, special art of living. Our teaching is just to live, always in reality, in its exact sense. To make our effort, moment after moment, is our way.
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You will always exist in the universe in one form or another.
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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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Our mind should be free from traces of the past, just like the flowers of spring.
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Don't move. Just die over and over. Don't anticipate. Nothing can save you now because you have only this moment. Not even enlightenment will help you now because there are no other moments. With no future, be true to yourself and express yourself fully. Don't move.
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Christopher McCandless:I will miss you too, but you are wrong if you think that the joy of life comes principally from the joy of human relationships. God's place is all around us, it is in everything and in anything we can experience. People just need to change the way they look at things.
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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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When you are fooled by something else, the damage will not be so big. But when you are fooled by yourself, it is fatal. No more medicine.
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Moment after moment everything comes out of nothingness. This is the true joy of life.
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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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Bowing is a very serious practice. You should be prepared to bow, even in your last moment. even though it is impossible to get rid of our self-centered desires, we have to do it. Our true nature wants us to.
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