Quote

The secret of Soto Zen is just two words: not always so.... In Japanese, it's two words, three words in English. That is the secret of our practice.

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
Japanese
English
Secret
Practice
Words
Three
Two
Always

More quotes by Shunryu Suzuki

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There are, strictly speaking, no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity.
Shunryu Suzuki
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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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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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When he bowed to all those buddhas, the buddhas he bowed to were beyond his own understanding. Again and again he did it.
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Discipline is creating the situation.
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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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When the restrictions you have do not limit you, this is what we mean by practice.
Shunryu Suzuki
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Time goes from present to past.
Shunryu Suzuki
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A tiger does not ignore or slight any small animal. The way he catches a mouse and catches and devours a cow are the same.
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Moment after moment everything comes out of nothingness. This is the true joy of life.
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To express yourself as you are, without any intentional, fancy way of adjusting yourself, is the most important thing.
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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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There will always be war, but we must always work to oppose it.
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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The true practice to meditation is to sit as if you where drinking water when you are thirsty.
Shunryu Suzuki
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If it is raining out, do not walk fast, because it is raining everywhere.
Shunryu Suzuki
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Take care of things, and they will take care of you.
Shunryu Suzuki
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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.
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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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.
Shunryu Suzuki