Quote

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.

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
Way
Falls
Love
Flower
Life
Understood
Grows
Though
Fall
Problem
Even
Weed

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There will always be war, but we must always work to oppose it.
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The more you practice zazen, the more you will be able to accept something as your own, whatever it is.
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Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.
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Take care of things, and they will take care of you.
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All descriptions of reality are limited expressions of the world of emptiness. Yet we attach to the descriptions and think they are reality. That is a mistake.
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Religion is not any particular teaching. Religion is everywhere.
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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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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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Our practice should be based on the ideal of selflessness. Selflessness is very difficult to understand. If you try to be selfless, that is already a selfish idea. Selflessness will be there when you do not try anything.
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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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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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There are, strictly speaking, no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity.
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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.
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In your big mind, everything has the same value...In your practice you should accept everything as it is, giving to each thing the same respect given to a Buddha. Here there is Buddhahood
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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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We try, and we try, and we fail and then we go deeper.
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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.
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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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An enlightened person does not ignore things and does not stick to things, not even to the truth.
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