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Our mind should be free from traces of the past, just like the flowers of spring.

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
Mind
Like
Traces
Flowers
Spring
Flower
Free
Past

More quotes by Shunryu Suzuki

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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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When you are fooled by something else, the damage will not be so big. But when you are fooled by yourself, it is fatal. No more medicine.
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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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In the mind of the beginner, there are many possibilities. In the mind of the expert there are few.
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Concentration comes not from trying hard to focus on something, but from keeping your mind open and directing it at nothing.
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Take care of things, and they will take care of you.
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The secret of zen is just two words: not... always... so.
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It is a big mistake to think that the best way to express yourself is to do whatever you want, acting as you please. This is not expressing yourself. If you know what to do exactly, and you do it, then you can express yourself fully.
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Moment after moment everything comes out of nothingness. This is the true joy of life.
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Zazen practice is the direct expression of our true nature. Strictly speaking, for a human being, there is no other practice than this practice there is no other way of life than this way of life.
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Happiness is sorrow sorrow is happiness. There is happiness in difficulty difficulty in happiness. Even though the ways we feel are different, they are not really different, in essence they are the same. This is the true understanding transmitted from Buddha to us.
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People say that practicing Zen is difficult, but there is a misunderstanding as to why. It is not difficult because it is hard to sit in the cross- legged position, or to attain enlightenment. It is difficult because it is hard to keep our mind pure and our practice pure in its fundamental sense.
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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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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.
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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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There should not be any particular teaching. Teaching is in each moment.
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Life and death are the same thing. When we realize this fact, we have no fear of death anymore, nor actual difficulty in our life.
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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.
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If you were not born in this world, there would be no need to die. To be born in this world is to die, to disappear [laughing].
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Whereever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are one with everything. That is more true than I can say, and more true than you can hear.
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