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We must exist right here, right now!

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
Right
Must
Exist

More quotes by Shunryu Suzuki

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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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Take care of things, and they will take care of you.
Shunryu Suzuki
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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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It is wisdom that is seeking for wisdom.
Shunryu Suzuki
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The more you practice zazen, the more you will be able to accept something as your own, whatever it is.
Shunryu Suzuki
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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.
Shunryu Suzuki
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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.
Shunryu Suzuki
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The purpose of our practice is just to be yourself.
Shunryu Suzuki
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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.
Shunryu Suzuki
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Enlightenment is not a complete remedy.
Shunryu Suzuki
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The highest truth is daiji, translated as dai jiki in Chinese scriptures. This is the subject of the question the emperor asked Bodhidharma: What is the First Principle? Bodhidharma said, I don't know. I don't know is the First Principle.
Shunryu Suzuki
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Time goes from present to past.
Shunryu Suzuki
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When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything. The best way is to understand yourself, and then you will understand everything.
Shunryu Suzuki
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Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.
Shunryu Suzuki
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The way that helps will not be the same it changes according to the situation.
Shunryu Suzuki
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The secret of zen is just two words: not... always... so.
Shunryu Suzuki
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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.
Shunryu Suzuki
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Although we have no actual written communications from the world of emptiness, we have some hints or suggestions about what is going on in that world, and that is, you might say, enlightenment. When you see plum blossoms or hear the sound of a small stone hitting bamboo, that is a letter from the world of emptiness.
Shunryu Suzuki
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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.
Shunryu Suzuki
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Nothing outside yourself can cause any trouble. You yourself make the waves in your mind. If you leave your mind as it is, it will become calm. This mind is called big mind.
Shunryu Suzuki