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You can't make a date with enlightenment.

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
Date
Enlightenment
Make

More quotes by Shunryu Suzuki

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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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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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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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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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Only when you understand people, they may understand you. So even though you do not say anything, if you understand people there is some communication.
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It is easy to have calmness in inactivity, it is hard to have calmness in activity, but calmness in activity is true calmness.
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The secret of zen is just two words: not... always... so.
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If you want to study Zen, you should forget all your previous ideas and just practice zazen and see what kind of experience you have in your practice. That is naturalness.
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You will always exist in the universe in one form or another.
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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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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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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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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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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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We must exist right here, right now!
Shunryu Suzuki
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If you take pride in your attainment or become discouraged because of your idealistic effort, your practice will confine you by a thick wall.
Shunryu Suzuki
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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.
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.
Shunryu Suzuki
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There are, strictly speaking, no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity.
Shunryu Suzuki
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Moment after moment, completely devote yourself to listening to your inner voice.
Shunryu Suzuki