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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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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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To give your sheep or cow a large, spacious meadow is the way to control him.
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Things are always changing, so nothing can be yours.
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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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Enlightenment is not a complete remedy.
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Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine.
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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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If you want to read a letter from the Buddha's world, it is necessary to understand Buddha's world.
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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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The true practice to meditation is to sit as if you where drinking water when you are thirsty.
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Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.
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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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If you want to enjoy the movie, you should know that it is the combination of film and light and white screen, and that the most important thing is to have a plain, white screen.
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When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything.
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Let your ears hear without trying to hear. Let the mind think without trying to think and without trying to stop it. That is practice.
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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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From True Emptiness The Wondrous Being Appears
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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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When we become truly ourselves, we just become a swinging door, and we are purely independent of, and at the same time, dependent upon everything.
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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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