The best way to control cow and sheep is to give them a big grazing field. — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
“But as long as you think you are practicing zazen for the sake of something, that is not true practice.” — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine. — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
The more you practice zazen, the more you will be able to accept something as your own, whatever it is. — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
Those who sit perfectly physically usually take more time to obtain the true way of Zen. — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
“It will take quite a long time before you find your calm, serene mind in your practice.” — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
The true practice to meditation is to sit as if you where drinking water when you are thirsty. — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
Life without zazen is like winding your clock without setting it. It runs perfectly well, but it dosen't tell time. — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
“Those who can sit perfectly physically usually take more time to obtain the true way of Zen, the actual feeling of Zen,… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
“In other restless positions you have no power to accept your difficulties, but in the zazen posture which you have acquired by… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
Zazen practice is the direct expression of our true nature. Strictly speaking, for a human being, there is no other practice than… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
If you want to study Zen, you should forget all your previous ideas and just practice zazen and see what kind of… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
“If you want to discover the true meaning of Zen in your everyday life, you have to understand the meaning of keeping… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
So it is not a matter of whether it is possible to attain Buddhahood, or if it is possible to make a… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
“Actually we do not have any particular name for our practice; when we practice zazen we just practice it, and whether we… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
“and you will become friendly with others. This is the merit of Zen practice. But the way of practice is just to… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
Meditation opens the mind to the greatest mystery that takes place daily and hourly; it widens the heart so that it may… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
While you are continuing this practice, week after week, year after year, your experience will become deeper and deeper, and your experience… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
When you are practicing zazen, do not try to stop your thinking. Let it stop by itself. If something comes into your… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
The mind we have when we practice zazen is the great mind: we don't try to see anything; we stop conceptual thinking;… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
So the most difficult thing is always to keep your beginner's mind. There is no need to have a deep understanding of… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind there are few… In the beginner's mind there is no… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
“Even though you read much Zen literature, you must read each sentence with a fresh mind. You should not say, “I know… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
“Zen is not some fancy, special art of living. Our teaching is just to live, always in reality, in its exact sense.… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
“Even in zazen you will lose yourself. When you become sleepy, or when your mind starts to wander about, you lose yourself.… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
In the zazen posture, your mind and body have, great power to accept things as they are, whether agreeable or disagreeable. — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
If you think you will get something from practicing zazen, already you are involved in impure practice. — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
“Actually the best way to relieve your mental suffering is to sit in zazen, even in such a confused state of mind… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
The true practice to meditation is to sit as if you where drinking water when you are thursty. — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
“Even when you practice zazen alone, without a teacher, I think you will find some way to tell whether your practice is… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
Zazen practice and everyday activity are one thing. We call zazen everyday life, and everyday life zazen. — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
“The true purpose of Zen is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything… — Shunryū Suzuki Copy Share Image
The secret of Soto Zen is just two words: not always so… In Japanese, it's two words, three words in English. That… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
Someone was sitting in front of a sunflower, watching the sunflower, a cup of sun, and so I tried it too. It… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share Image
If you continue this simple practice every day, you will obtain some wonderful power. Before you attain it, it is something wonderful, but after… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share
You want to eliminate your evil desires in order to reveal your Buddha nature, but where will you throw them away? — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share
Ego is a social institution with no physical reality. The ego is simply your symbol of yourself. — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share
“In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the experts mind, there are few.” — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share
The seed has no idea of being some particular plant, but it has its own form and is in perfect harmony with the ground,… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share
Whereever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are one with everything.… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share
When we become truly ourselves, we just become a swinging door, and we are purely independent of, and at the same time, dependent upon… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share
“Zen is not some fancy, special art of living. Our teaching is just to live, always in reality, in its exact sense. To make… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share
So the secret is just to say 'Yes!' and jump off from here. Then there is no problem. It means to be yourself, always… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share
Our tendency is to be interested in something that is growing in the garden, not in the bare soil itself. But if you want… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share
People say that practicing Zen is difficult, but there is a misunderstanding as to why. It is not difficult because it is hard to… — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share
Each one of us must make his own true way, and when we do, that way will express the universal way. — Shunryu Suzuki Copy Share
