WIST Quotations

Suzuki, Shunryu -- “Sitting Like a Frog,” Not Always So [ed. E. Brown] (2002)

Dave — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:11:08 +0000

When you can laugh at yourself, there is enlightenment.

Shunryū Suzuki (1905-1971) Japanese Zen Buddhist master
“Sitting Like a Frog,” Not Always So [ed. E. Brown] (2002)

Suzuki, Shunryu -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:15:19 +0000

Hell is not punishment. It’s training.

Shunryū Suzuki (1905-1971) Japanese Zen Buddhist master
(Attributed)

Suzuki, Shunryu -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:00:49 +0000

As soon as you see something, you already start to intellectualize it. As soon as you intellectualize something, it is no longer what you saw.

Shunryū Suzuki (1905-1971) Japanese Zen Buddhist master
(Attributed)

Suzuki, Shunryu -- Not Always So, “Letters from Emptiness” (2002)

Dave — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 14:27:55 +0000

All descriptions of reality are limited expressions of the world of emptiness. Yet we attach to the descriptions and think they are reality. That is a mistake.

Shunryū Suzuki (1905-1971) Japanese Zen Buddhist master
Not Always So, “Letters from Emptiness” (2002)

Suzuki, Shunryu -- Not Always So, “Wherever You Are, Enlightenment Is There” (2002)

Dave — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 14:25:36 +0000

Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.

Shunryū Suzuki (1905-1971) Japanese Zen Buddhist master
Not Always So, “Wherever You Are, Enlightenment Is There” (2002)

Suzuki, Shunryu -- Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, ch. 1 “Right Practice” (1973)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

For Zen students a weed is a treasure. […] You should rather be grateful for the weeds you have in you mind, because eventually they will enrich your practice.

Shunryū Suzuki (1905-1971) Japanese Zen Buddhist master
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, ch. 1 “Right Practice” (1973)

Suzuki, Shunryu -- Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Prologue (1973)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything. It is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind, there are few.

Shunryū Suzuki (1905-1971) Japanese Zen Buddhist master
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Prologue (1973)

Suzuki, Shunryu -- Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind (1973)

Dave — Wed, 12 May 2004 19:12:41 +0000

To have some deep feeling about Buddhism is not the point; we just do what we should do, like eating supper and going to bed. This is Buddhism.

Shunryū Suzuki (1905-1971) Japanese Zen Buddhist master
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind (1973)

Suzuki, Shunryu -- Lecture in Los Altos, California (1 Sep 1967)

Dave — Thu, 02 Jul 2020 19:49:01 +0000

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. But just to work, just to live in this world with this understanding is the most important point, and that is our practice. That is true zazen.

Shunryū Suzuki (1905-1971) Japanese Zen Buddhist master
Lecture in Los Altos, California (1 Sep 1967)
(Source)

Suzuki, Shunryu -- Lotus Sutra No. 6 lecture, Tassajara, California (Feb 1968)

Dave — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 17:15:47 +0000

The highest truth is daiji, translated as dai jiki in Chinese scriptures. This is the subject of the question the emperor asked Bodhidharma: “What is the First Principle?” Bodhidharma said, “I don’t know.” “I don’t know” is the First Principle.

Shunryū Suzuki (1905-1971) Japanese Zen Buddhist master
Lotus Sutra No. 6 lecture, Tassajara, California (Feb 1968)
(Source)