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

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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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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.
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To give your sheep or cow a large, spacious meadow is the way to control him.
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We ourselves cannot put any magic spells on this world. The world is its own magic.
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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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The goal of our life’s effort is to reach the other shore, Nirvana. Prajna paramita, the true wisdom of life, is that in each step of the way, the other shore is actually reached.
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When the restrictions you have do not limit you, this is what we mean by practice.
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Instead of criticizing, find out how to help.
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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.
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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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Christopher McCandless:I will miss you too, but you are wrong if you think that the joy of life comes principally from the joy of human relationships. God's place is all around us, it is in everything and in anything we can experience. People just need to change the way they look at things.
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You can't make a date with enlightenment.
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Religion is not any particular teaching. Religion is everywhere.
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Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine.
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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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The more you practice zazen, the more you will be able to accept something as your own, whatever it is.
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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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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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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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