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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.

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
Study
Practice
Forget
Experience
Ideas
Kind
Naturalness
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More quotes by Shunryu Suzuki

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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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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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Whereever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are one with everything. That is more true than I can say, and more true than you can hear.
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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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There is no connection between I myself yesterday and I myself in this moment
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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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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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Instead of criticizing, find out how to help.
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It is a big mistake to think that the best way to express yourself is to do whatever you want, acting as you please. This is not expressing yourself. If you know what to do exactly, and you do it, then you can express yourself fully.
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We must exist right here, right now!
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There are, strictly speaking, no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity.
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When you do something, you should burn yourself up completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.
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Our mind should be free from traces of the past, just like the flowers of spring.
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It is wisdom that is seeking for wisdom.
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For Zen students a weed is a treasure. With this attitude, whatever you do, life becomes an art.
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Only when you understand people, they may understand you. So even though you do not say anything, if you understand people there is some communication.
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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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When you do something, if you fix your mind on the activity with some confidence, the quality of your state of mind is the activity itself. When you are concentrated on the quality of your being, you are prepared for the activity.
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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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