Zen Mind / Shunryu SUZUKI

Two Suzukis
1)Daisetz Suzuki's Zen: Dramatic
2)Shunryu Suziki's Zen: Ordinary

 

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.

 

 

Posture
These forms are not the means of obtaining the right state of mind. To take this posture is itself to have the right state of mind. There is no need to obtain some special state of mind.

 

 

Our life is not only plural, but also singular. Each one of us is both dependent and independent.

 

 

 

We die, and we do not die. This is the right understanding. - two sides of one coin

 

 

 

Kill the Buddha! Kill the Buddha if the Buddha exists somewhere else.

 

 

 

When the boss does something right, everyone will do everything right, and at the right time. That is the secret of Buddhism.

 

 

 

Try always to keep the right posture. How important it is to keep the right posture.

 

 

 

What we call 'I' is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale. It just moves; that is all.

 

 

 

Actually what you are doing, however, is just sitting and being aware of the universal activity.

 

 

 

I should not do this. you are doing not doing in that moment.

 

 

 

Not-to-do something is doing something.

 

 

 

All that we should do is just do something as it comes. Do something. Whatever it is, we should do it, even if it is not-doing something.

 

 

 

This is Zen practice. In this practice there is no confusion. If you establish this kind of life you have no confusion whatsoever.

 

 

 

They are quite independent, but yet dependent. This is how we live. and how we practice zazen.

 

 

 

absolute independent; your mind should be concentrated on your breathing. This kind of activity is the fundamental activity of the universal being. Without this experience, this practice, it is impossible to attain absolute freedom.

 

 

 

The reason everything looks beautiful is because it is out of balance, but its background is always in perfect harmony.

 

 

 

The best one is to watch them, just to watch them, without trying to control them.

 

 

 

If you want to obtain perfect calmness in your zazen, you should not be bothered by the various images you find in your mind. Let them com, and let them go. Then they will be under control. But this policy is not so easy. It sounds east, but it requires some special effort. How to make this kind of effort is the secret of practice.

 

 

 

We say concentration, but to concentrate your mind on something is not the true purpose of Zen. The true purpose is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes.

 

 

 

Do not try to stop your thinking. Let it stop by itself.
If something comes into your mind, let it come in, and let it go out. It will not stay long.

 

 

 

It is easy to have calmness in inactivity, it is hard to have calmness in activity, but calmness in activity is true calmness.

 

 

 

It is like studying a foreign language; you cannot do it all of a sudden, but by repeating it over and over you will master it.

 

 

 

Nothing special. 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.

 

 

 

I went and I returned. It was nothing special.

 

 

 

Single-minded way
Even if the sun were to rise from the west, the Bodhisattva has only one way.

 

 

 

One railway track thousands of miles long.

 

 

 

There is no beginning or end to the track. Beginningless and endless track. there is no starting point, no goal, nothing to attain. Just to run on the track is our way. This is the nature of our Zen practice.

 

 

 

Repetition
If you lose the spirit of repetition, your practice will become quite difficult.

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

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 extra. Right effort is to get rid of something extra.

 

 

When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.

To do something through and through is to resume our true activity of creation. This is why we sit.

We should continue it. This is the secret of practice.

 

When you become you, Zen becomes Zen. When you are you, you see things as they are, and you become one with your surroundings.

 

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.

 

Patience but perhaps constancy; you must force yourself to be patient, but in constancy there is no particular effort involved.

 

When you do not feel so well, it is better to express how you feel without any particular attachment or intention.

 

But the best way to communicate may be just to sit without saying anything.

 

We cannot say in a positive and a negative way at the same time.

 

Try not to win in the argument; just listen to it.

 

Our life and death are the same thing. When we realize this face, we have no fear of death anymore, nor actual difficulty in our life.

 

Everything comes out of emptiness.

 

 

The best way is to understand yourself, and then you will understand everything. So when you try hard to make your own way, you will help others, and you will be helped by others. Before you make your own way you cannot help anyone, and no one can help you.

 

 

 

Concentration means freedom.

 

 

 

eventually you will experience the true existence which comes from emptiness.

 

 

 

If it is too strict you will fail, if it is too loose, the rules will not work.

 

 

 

You just concentrate on the activity we do in each moment.

 

 

 

Home emptied of all furnishings in order to truly receive Shakyamuni Buddha's visit.