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We ourselves cannot put any magic spells on this world. The world is its own magic.

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
Spells
Magic
Cannot
World

More quotes by Shunryu Suzuki

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The way that helps will not be the same it changes according to the situation.
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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.
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If it is raining out, do not walk fast, because it is raining everywhere.
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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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It is only by practicing through a continual succession of agreeable and disagreeable situations that we acquire true strengths. To accept that pain is inherent and to live our lives from this understanding is to create the causes and conditions for happiness.
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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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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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If you take pride in your attainment or become discouraged because of your idealistic effort, your practice will confine you by a thick wall.
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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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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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Instead of respecting things, we want to use them for ourselves and if it is difficult to use them, we want to conquer them.
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So when you try hard to make your own way, you will help others...before you make your own way you cannot help anyone, and no one can help 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 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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To have some deep feeling about Buddhism is not the point we just do what we should do, like eating supper and going to bed. This is Buddhism.
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Religion is not any particular teaching. Religion is everywhere.
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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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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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After you have practiced for a while, you will realize that it is not possible to make rapid, extraordinary progress. Even though you try very hard, the progress you make is always little by little.
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Take care of things, and they will take care of you.
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