Quotes from Shunryu Suzuki

Everything is perfect and there is always room for improvement.

If you cannot bow to Buddha, you cannot be a Buddha. It is arrogance.

The person who can freely acknowledge that life is full of difficulties can be free, because they are acknowledging the nature of life - that it can't be much else.

The point we emphasize is strong confidence in our original nature.

You want to eliminate your evil desires in order to reveal your Buddha nature, but where will you throw them away?

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.

As long as we have some definite idea about or some hope in the future, we cannot really be serious with the moment that exists right now.

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few.

Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine.

Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. Unfortunately, although it is true, it is difficult for us to accept it. Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer.

In the zazen posture, your mind and body have, great power to accept things as they are, whether agreeable or disagreeable.

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.

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.

When you are just you, without thinking or trying to say something special, just saying what is on your mind and how you feel, then there is naturally self-respect.

In your big mind, everything has the same value...In your practice you should accept everything as it is, giving to each thing the same respect given to a Buddha. Here there is Buddhahood

Moment after moment everything comes out of nothingness. This is the true joy of life.

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.

Discipline is creating the situation.

Our way is to practice one step at a time, one breath at a time, with no gaining idea.

To find perfect composure in the midst of change is to find nirvana.

For Zen students a weed is a treasure. With this attitude, whatever you do, life becomes an art.

Life without zazen is like winding your clock without setting it. It runs perfectly well, but it dosen't tell time.

Zazen practice and everyday activity are one thing. We call zazen everyday life, and everyday life zazen.

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.