Quote

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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Shunryu Suzuki
Age: 67 †
Born: 1904
Born: May 18
Died: 1971
Died: December 4
Bhikkhu
Leader
Missionary
Philosopher
Writer
Atlanta
Georgia
Without
Runs
Well
Settings
Time
Perfectly
Life
Clock
Like
Setting
Running
Tell
Wells
Winding

More quotes by Shunryu Suzuki

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No matter what god or doctrine you believe in, if you become attached to it, your belief will be based more or less on a self-centered idea.
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Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine.
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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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The true practice to meditation is to sit as if you where drinking water when you are thirsty.
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In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few.
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Each one of us must make his own true way, and when we do, that way will express the universal way.
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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.
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There is no connection between I myself yesterday and I myself in this moment
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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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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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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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Each of you is perfect the way you are ... and you can use a little improvement.
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We must exist right here, right now!
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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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Meditation opens the mind to the greatest mystery that takes place daily and hourly it widens the heart so that it may feel the eternity of time and infinity of space in every throb it gives us a life within the world as if we were moving about in paradise.
Shunryu Suzuki
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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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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.
Shunryu Suzuki
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For Zen students a weed is a treasure. With this attitude, whatever you do, life becomes an art.
Shunryu Suzuki
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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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If it is raining out, do not walk fast, because it is raining everywhere.
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