« All Practice Quotes · Shunryu Suzuki's Page
Practice Quotes by 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 in nothing, believing…
- The true practice to meditation is to sit as if you where drinking water when you are thursty.
- The true purpose of Zen is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it…
- So it is not a matter of whether it is possible to attain Buddhahood, or if it is possible to make a tile a jewel.…
- If you take pride in your attainment or become discouraged because of your idealistic effort, your practice will confine you by a thick wall.
- 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…
- You should rather be grateful for the weeds you have in your mind, because eventually they will enrich your practice.
- The mind we have when we practice zazen is the great mind: we don't try to see anything; we stop conceptual thinking; we stop emotional…
- People say that practicing Zen is difficult, but there is a misunderstanding as to why. It is not difficult because it is hard to sit…
- Zazen practice and everyday activity are one thing. We call zazen everyday life, and everyday life zazen.
- 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…
- Even though you have pain in your legs, you can do it. Even though your practice is not good enough, you can do it.
- If your practice is good, you may become proud of it. What you do is good, but something more is added to it. Pride is…
- Our practice should be based on the ideal of selflessness. Selflessness is very difficult to understand. If you try to be selfless, that is already…
- In the beginner's mind there is no thought, "I have attained something." All self-centered thoughts limit our vast mind. When we have no thought of…
- When the restrictions you have do not limit you, this is what we mean by practice.
- If you think you will get something from practicing zazen, already you are involved in impure practice.
- We do not slight the idea of enlightenment, but the most important thing is this moment, not some day in the future. We have to…
- The purpose of our practice is just to be yourself.
- If you understand real practice, then archery or other activities can be zen. If you don't understand how to practice archery in its true sense,…
More Practice Quotes
- . . . a basic law: the more you practice the art of thankfulness, the more you have to be thankful for.… — Norman Vincent Peale
- Throughout all of this confusion, I hope I somehow get to you. I practice all the things I'd say to tell you… — Superman
- A beginner must look on himself as one setting out to make a garden for his Lord's pleasure, on most unfruitful soil… — Teresa of Avila
- Let it be your constant method to look into the design of people's actions, and see what they would be at, as… — Marcus Aurelius
- I don't know what heavy penance I would not have gladly undertaken rather than practice prayer. — Teresa of Avila
- Preaching is to much avail, but practice is far more effective. A godly life is the strongest argument you can offer the… — Hosea Ballou
- To become an able and successful man in any profession, three things are necessary, nature, study and practice. — Henry Ward Beecher
- In practice, I've had a presence in China since 1998 with my commercial spaces and shops. — Giorgio Armani