“If you are ready to accept things as they are, you will receive them as old friends, even though you appreciate them with new feeling.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“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. In an exact sense, the only thing we actually can study in our life is that on which we are working in each moment. We cannot even study Buddha’s words.”
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“So we should be concentrated with our full mind and body on what we do; and we should be faithful, subjectively and objectively, to ourselves, and especially to our feelings. Even when you do not feel so well, it is better to express how you feel without any particular attachment or intention. So you may say, “Oh, I am sorry, I do not feel well.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“Those who find great difficulties in practicing Zen will find more meaning in it.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginners Mind
“[W]hen your practice is calm and ordinary, everyday life itself is enlightenment.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
“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. It is not like going out in a shower in which you know when you get wet. In a fog, you do not know you are getting wet, but as you keep walking you get wet little by little.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“What we call “I” is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale. It just moves; that is all. When your mind is pure and calm enough to follow this movement, there is nothing: no “I,” no world, no mind nor body; just a swinging door.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“You must force yourself to be patient, but in constancy there is no particular effort involved--there is only the unchanging ability to accept things as they are. For people who have no idea of emptiness, this ability may appear to be patience, but patience can actually be non-acceptance.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“If we practice hard, concentrate on zazen, and organize our life so that we can sit well, we will find out what we are doing. But you have to be careful in the rules and way you establish. If it is too strict you will fail, if it is too loose, the rules will not work. Our way should be strict enough to have authority, an authority everyone should obey. Thu rules should be possible to observe.
This is how Zen tradition was built up, decided little by little, created by us in our practice. We cannot force anything. But once the rules have been decided, we should obey them completely until they are changed. It is not a matter of good or bad, convenient or inconvenient. You just do it without question. That way your mind is free.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“We have been taught that there is no gap between nighttime and daytime, no gap between you and I. This means oneness. But we do not emphasize even oneness. If it is one, there is no need to emphasize one.
Suzuki, Shunryu. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (pp. 108-109). Shambhala. Kindle Edition.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“You and I are just swinging doors.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“Although Buddhism is unattainable, we vow to attain it.If it is unattainable, how can we attain it? But we should! That is Buddhism.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence. The basic teaching of Buddhism is the teaching of transiency, change. That everything changes is the basic truth of each existence. When we realize the everlasting truth of “everything changes” and find our composure in it, we find ourselves in Nirvana.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
“When we do not expect anything we can be ourselves.”
Source: Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen – The Final Teachings of Shunryu Suzuki to Empower Your Freedom
“Sincerity itself is the railroad track.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“One time Marian showed me some sand. When she gave it to me, she said, "These are very interesting stones." It just looked like sand, but she asked me to took through a magnifying glass. Then those small stones were as interesting as the stones I have in my office. The stones in my office are bigger, but under the glass the sand was quite similar.
If you say, "This is a rock from the moon", you will be very much interested in it. Actually I don't think there is a great difference between rocks we have on the earth and those on the moon. Even if you go to Mars, I think you will find the same rocks.
I am quite sure about it.
So if you want to find something interesting, instead of hopping around the universe like this, enjoy your life in every moment, observe what you have now, and truly live in your surroundings.”
Source: Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen – The Final Teachings of Shunryu Suzuki to Empower Your Freedom
“In our practice we have no particular purpose or goal, nor any special object of worship.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“We sit to express our true nature”
“Do not be too interested in Zen.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“Zen is nothing to get excited about.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“Before we were born we had no feeling; we were one with the universe. This is called "mind-only," or "essence of mind," or "big mind," After we are separated by birth from this oneness, as the water falling from the waterfall is separated by the wind and rocks, then we have feeling. You have difficulty because you have feeling. You attach to the feeling you have without knowing just how this kind of feeling is created. When you do not realize that you are one with the river, or one with the universe, you have fear. Whether it is separated into drops or not, water is water. Our life and death are the same thing. When we realize this fact we have no fear of death anymore, and we have no actual difficulty in our life.”
“When you do something, you should do it with your whole body and mind; you should be concentrated on what you do. You should do it completely, like a good bonfire. You should not be a smoky fire. You should burn yourself completely. If you do not burn yourself completely, a trace of yourself will be left in what you do.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“Even in zazen you will lose yourself. When you become sleepy, or when your mind starts to wander about, you lose yourself. When your legs become painful—“Why are my legs so painful?”—you lose yourself. ”
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“You just sit in the midst of the problem; when you are a part of the problem, or when the problem is a part of you, there is no problem, because you are the problem itself. The problem is you yourself. If this is so, there is no problem.”
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“When you start to wander about in some delusion which is something apart from you yourself, then your surroundings are not real anymore, and your mind is not real anymore. If you yourself are deluded, then your surroundings are also a misty, foggy delusion. Once you are in the midst of delusion, there is no end to delusion. You will be involved in deluded ideas one after another. Most people live in delusion, involved in their problem, trying to solve their problem. But just to live is actually to live in problems. And to solve the problem is to be a part of it, to be one with it.”
“Even though you read much Zen literature, you must read each sentence with a fresh mind. You should not say, “I know what Zen is,” or “I have attained enlightenment.” This is also the real secret of the arts: always be a beginner.”
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“When you are sitting in the middle of your own problem, which is more real to you: your problem or you yourself? The awareness that you are here, right now, is the ultimate fact. ”
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“Knowing that your life is short, to enjoy it day after day, moment after moment, is the life of “form is form and emptiness is emptiness.”
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“You may feel as if you are doing something special, but actually it is only the expression of your true nature; it is the activity which appeases your inmost desire. But as long as you think you are practicing zazen for the sake of something, that is not true practice.”
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“The most important thing is to forget all gaining ideas, all dualistic ideas. In other words, just practice zazen in a certain posture.”
“Try not to force your idea on someone, but rather think about it with him. If you feel you have won the discussion, that is the wrong attitude. Try not to win the argument; just listen to it.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“When our mind is compassionate, it is boundless.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“Usually we think of our mind as receiving impressions and experiences from outside, but that is not a true understanding of our mind. The true understanding is that the mind includes everything; when you think something comes from outside it means only that something appears in your mind.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“Reality cannot be caught by thinking or feeling mind.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“I discovered that it is necessary, absolutely necessary, to believe in nothing. That is, we have to believe in something that has no form and no color - something which exists before all forms and colors appear. This is a very important point. 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. You strive for a perfect faith in order to save yourself. But it will take time to attain such perfect faith. You will be involved in an idealistic practice. In constantly seeking to actualize your ideal, you will have no time for composure. But if you are always prepared for accepting everything we see as something appearing from nothing, knowing that there is some reason why a phenomenal existence of such and such form and color appears, then at that moment you will have perfect composure.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“When I was at Eiheiji monastery in Japan, everyone was just doing what he should do. That is all. It is the same as waking up in the morning; we have to get up. At Eiheiji monastery, when we had to sit, we sat; when we had to bow to Buddha, we bowed to Buddha. That is all. And when we were practicing, we did not feel anything special. We did not even feel that we were leading a monastic life. For us, the monastic life was the usual life, and the people who came from the city were unusual people. When we saw them we felt, "Oh, some unusual people have come!"
But once I had left Eiheiji and been away for some time, coming back was different. I heard the various sounds of practice—the bells and the monks reciting the sutra—and I had a deep feeling. There were tears flowing out of my eyes, nose, and mouth! It is the people who are outside of the monastery who feel its atmosphere. Those who are practicing actually do not feel anything. I think this is true for everything.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
“Calmness of mind does not mean you should stop your activity. Real calmness should be found in activity itself. We say, "It is easy to have calmness in inactivity, it is hard to have calmness in activity, but calmness in activity is true calmness.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“When everything exists within your big mind, all dualistic relationships drop away. There is no distinction between heaven and earth, man and woman, teacher and disciple. Sometimes a man bows to a woman; sometimes a woman bows to a man. Sometimes the disciple bows to the master; sometimes the master bows to the disciple... In your big mind, everything has the same value.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“We can say either that we make progress little by little, or that we do not even expect to make progress. Just to be sincere and make our full effort in each moment is enough.”
“Bowing helps to eliminate our self-centered ideas... The result is not the point; it is the effort to improve ourselves that is valuable... whether or not it is possible is not the point... Before you determine to do it, you have difficulty, but once you start to do it, you have none.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“In zazen, leave your front door and your back door open. Let thoughts come and go. Just don't serve them tea.”
“A frog is very interesting. He sits like us, too, you know. But he does not think that he is doing anything so special. When you go to a zendo and sit, you may think you are doing some special thing. While your husband or wife is sleeping, you are practicing zazen! You are doing some special thing, and your spouse is lazy! That may be your understanding of zazen. But look at the frog. A frog also sits like us, but he has no idea of zazen. Watch him. If something annoys him, he will make a face. If something comes along to eat, he will snap it up and eat, and he eats sitting. Actually that is our zazen—not any special thing.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“Try always to keep the right posture, not only when you practice zazen, but in all your activities.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginners Mind
“To be aware of the meaning of your life, you practice zazen.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“When you get wet in a fog it is very difficult to dry yourself.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“If someone is watching you, you can escape from him, but if no one is watching, you cannot escape from yourself.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“Usually when you listen to some statement, you hear it as a kind of echo of yourself. You are actually listening to your own opinion. If it agrees with your opinion you may accept it, but if it does not, you will reject it or you may not even really hear it.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“So try not to see something in particular; try not to achieve anything special. You already have everything in your own pure quality. If you understand this ultimate fact, there is no fear. There may be some difficulty, of course, but there is no fear.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“It is said that there are four kinds of horses: excellent ones, good ones, poor ones, and bad ones. The best horse will run slow and fast, right and left, at the driver’s will, before it sees the shadow of the whip; the second best will run as well as the first one does, just before the whip reaches its skin; the third one will run when it feels pain on its body; the fourth will run after the pain penetrates to the marrow of its bones. You can imagine how difficult it is for the fourth one to learn how to run!
When we hear this story, almost all of us want to be the best horse. If it is impossible to be the best one, we want to be the second best. That is, I think, the usual understanding of this story, and of Zen. You may think that when you sit in zazen you will find out whether you are one of the best horses or one of the worst ones. Here, however, there is a misunderstanding of Zen. If you think the aim of Zen practice is to train you to become one of the best horses, you will have a big problem. This is not the right understanding. If you practice Zen in the right way it does not matter whether you are the best horse or the worst one. When you consider the mercy of Buddha, how do you think Buddha will feel about the four kinds of horses? He will have more sympathy for the worst one than for the best one.
When you are determined to practice zazen with the great mind of Buddha, you will find the worst horse is the most valuable one. In your very imperfections you will find the basis for your firm, way-seeking mind. Those who can sit perfectly physically usually take more time to obtain the true way of Zen, the actual feeling of Zen, the marrow of Zen. But those who find great difficulties in practicing Zen will find more meaning in it. So I think that sometimes the best horse may be the worst horse, and the worst horse can be the best one.
If you study calligraphy you will find that those who are not so clever usually become the best calligraphers. Those who are very clever with their hands often encounter great difficulty after they have reached a certain stage. This is also true in art and in Zen. It is true in life. So when we talk about Zen we cannot say, 'He is good,' or 'He is bad,' in the ordinary sense of the words. The posture taken in zazen is not the same for each of us. For some it may be impossible to take the cross-legged posture. But even though you cannot take the right posture, when you arouse your real, way-seeking mind, you can practice Zen in its true sense. Actually it is easier for those who have difficulties in sitting to arouse the true way-seeking mind that for those who can sit easily.”
“Our Soto way puts an emphasis on shikan taza, or "just sitting." Actually we do not have any particular name for our practice; when we practice zazen we just practice it, and whether we find joy in our practice or not, we just do it. Even though we are sleepy, and we are tired of practicing zazen, of repeating the same thing day after day; even so, we continue our practice. Whether or not someone encourages our practice, we just do it.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
“If you try to observe the precepts, that is not true observation of precepts. When you observe the precepts without trying to observe the precepts, that is true observation of the precepts.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Even though you try very hard, the progress you make is always little by little. It is not like going out in a shower in which you know when you get wet. In a fog, you do not know you are getting wet, but as you keep walking you get wet little by little. If your mind has ideas of progress, you may say, 'Oh, this pace is terrible!' But actually it is not. When you get wet in a fog it is very difficult to dry yourself.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
“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.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
“Usually when someone believes in a particular religion, his attitude becomes more and more a sharp angle pointing away from himself. In our way the point of the angle is always toward ourselves.”
Source: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
