Enlightenment Quotes by Shunryu Suzuki

Enlightenment is not a complete remedy.

— Shunryu Suzuki

I think you're all enlightened, until you open your mouths.

— Shunryu Suzuki

You can't make a date with enlightenment.

— Shunryu Suzuki

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

— Shunryu Suzuki

There are, strictly speaking, no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity.

— Shunryu Suzuki

If you want to read a letter from the Buddha's world, it is necessary to understand Buddha's world.

— Shunryu Suzuki

When he bowed to all those buddhas, the buddhas he bowed to were beyond his own understanding. Again and again he did…

— Shunryu Suzuki

“If you are ready to accept things as they are, you will receive them as old friends, even though you appreciate them…

— Shunryu Suzuki

It is not after we understand the truth that we attain enlightenment. To realize the truth is to live - to exist…

— Shunryu Suzuki

An enlightened person does not ignore things and does not stick to things, not even to the truth.

— Shunryu Suzuki

Strictly speaking, there are no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity.

— Shunryu Suzuki

“The trying to do something is in itself enlightenment. When we are in difficulty or distress, there we have enlightenment.”

— Shunryu Suzuki

We do not slight the idea of enlightenment, but the most important thing is this moment, not some day in the future.…

— Shunryu Suzuki

Without ignoring the objective side of the truth, it has to be subjective as well, Buddha's whole teaching just for you, something…

— Shunryu Suzuki

Don't move. Just die over and over. Don't anticipate. Nothing can save you now because you have only this moment. Not even…

— Shunryu Suzuki

In your big mind, everything has the same value...In your practice you should accept everything as it is, giving to each thing…

— Shunryu Suzuki

People say that practicing Zen is difficult, but there is a misunderstanding as to why. It is not difficult because it is…

— Shunryu Suzuki

In your everyday life you always have opportunities for enlightenment. If you go to the rest room, there is a chance to…

— Shunryu Suzuki

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

Although we have no actual written communications from the world of emptiness, we have some hints or suggestions about what is going…

— Shunryu Suzuki

If enlightenment comes first, before thinking, before practice, your thinking and your practice will not be self-centered. By enlightenment I mean believing…

— Shunryu Suzuki

To have some deep feeling about Buddhism is not the point; we just do what we should do, like eating supper and…

— Shunryu Suzuki

Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as an enlightened person. There is only enlightened activity.

— Shunryu Suzuki