Shunryu Suzuki
Shunryu Suzuki
Shunryu Suzukiwas a Sōtō Zen monk and teacher who helped popularize Zen Buddhism in the United States, and is renowned for founding the first Buddhist monastery outside Asia. Suzuki founded San Francisco Zen Center, which along with its affiliate temples, comprises one of the most influential Zen organizations in the United States. A book of his teachings, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, is one of the most popular books on Zen and Buddhism in the West...
NationalityJapanese
ProfessionLeader
Date of Birth18 May 1904
CountryJapan
If your mind is empty, it is ready for anything. In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind there are few.
Everything is perfect and there is always room for improvement.
Religion is not any particular teaching. Religion is everywhere.
An enlightened person does not ignore things and does not stick to things, not even to the truth.
To renounce things is not to give them up. It is to acknowledge that all things go away.
The beginner's mind is the mind of compassion. When our mind is compassionate, it is boundless.
Bowing is a very serious practice. You should be prepared to bow, even in your last moment. even though it is impossible to get rid of our self-centered desires, we have to do it. Our true nature wants us to.
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.
We try, and we try, and we fail; and then we go deeper.
You must be true to your own way until at last you actually come to the point where you see it is necessary to forget all about yourself.
If you take pride in your attainment or become discouraged because of your idealistic effort, your practice will confine you by a thick wall.
There will always be war, but we must always work to oppose it.