Quote

Concentration comes not from trying hard to focus on something, but from keeping your mind open and directing it at nothing.

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
Hard
Trying
Directing
Mind
Concentration
Something
Keeping
Focus
Open
Comes
Nothing

More quotes by 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.
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We must exist right here, right now!
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So when you try hard to make your own way, you will help others...before you make your own way you cannot help anyone, and no one can help you.
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If you continue this simple practice every day, you will obtain some wonderful power. Before you attain it, it is something wonderful, but after you attain it, it is nothing special.
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In the mind of the beginner, there are many possibilities. In the mind of the expert there are few.
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When you do something, if you fix your mind on the activity with some confidence, the quality of your state of mind is the activity itself. When you are concentrated on the quality of your being, you are prepared for the activity.
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Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine.
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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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Zen is everywhere.... But for you, Zen is right here.
Shunryu Suzuki
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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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To accept some idea of truth without experiencing it is like a painting of a cake on paper which you cannot eat.
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True communication depends upon our being straightforward with one another... But the best way to communicate may be just to sit without saying anything.
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Religion is not any particular teaching. Religion is everywhere.
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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.
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
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We ourselves cannot put any magic spells on this world. The world is its own magic.
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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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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Life without zazen is like winding your clock without setting it. It runs perfectly well, but it dosen't tell time.
Shunryu Suzuki
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The purpose of our practice is just to be yourself.
Shunryu Suzuki