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
Preparing food is not just about yourself and others. It is about everything!
When you try to attain something, your mind starts to wander about somewhere else. When you do not try to attain anything, you have your own body and mind right here. In Buddhism it is a heretical view to expect something outside this world. We do not seek for something besides ourselves.
Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as an enlightened person. There is only enlightened activity.
I discovered that it is necessary, absolutely necessary, to believe in nothing. That is, we have to believe in something which has no form and no color--something which exists before all forms and colors appear... No matter what god or doctrine you believe in, if you become attached to it, your belief will be based more or less on a self-centered idea.
If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything.
So for a period of time each day, try to sit, without moving, without expecting anything, as if you were in your last moment. Moment after moment you feel your last instant. In each inhalation and each exhalation there are countless instants of time. Your intention is to live in each instant.
What we call "I" is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale.
When you do something, you should burn yourself up completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.
Everything you do is right, nothing you do is wrong, yet you must still make ceaseless effort.
Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine.
Zazen practice and everyday activity are one thing. We call zazen everyday life, and everyday life zazen.
Our way is to practice one step at a time, one breath at a time, with no gaining idea.
To accept some idea of truth without experiencing it is like a painting of a cake on paper which you cannot eat.
Usually when someone believes in a particular religion, his attitude becomes more and more a sharp angle pointing away from himself. In our way the point of the angle is always toward ourselves.