Shunryu Suzuki Quotes About Enlightenment

Quotes about: Enlightenment

• Don't move. Just die over and over. Don't anticipate. Nothing can save you now because you have only this moment. Not even enlightenment will help you now because there are no other moments. With no future, be true to yourself and express yourself fully. Don't move.

  Shunryu Suzuki

  Spiritual, Moving, Enlightenment

• 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 make our effort in this moment. This is the most important thing for our practice.

  Shunryu Suzuki

  Practice, Ideas, Effort

  Shunryu Suzuki (2018). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice”, p.58, House of Majied Publications via PublishDrive

• Although we have no actual written communications from the world of emptiness, we have some hints or suggestions about what is going on in that world, and that is, you might say, enlightenment. When you see plum blossoms or hear the sound of a small stone hitting bamboo, that is a letter from the world of emptiness.

  Shunryu Suzuki

  Communication, Enlightenment, Sound

• 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 in something which has no form or no color, which is ready to take form or color. This enlightenment is the immutable truth. It is on this orginal truth that our activity, our thinking, and our practice should be based.

  Shunryu Suzuki

  Buddhist, Believe, Mean

  Shunryu Suzuki (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.109, Shambhala Publications

• You can't make a date with enlightenment.

  Shunryu Suzuki

  Enlightenment

• 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 in the cross- legged position, or to attain enlightenment. It is difficult because it is hard to keep our mind pure and our practice pure in its fundamental sense.

  Shunryu Suzuki

  Practice, People, Mind

  Shunryu Suzuki (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.1, Shambhala Publications

• So the most difficult thing is always to keep your beginner's mind. There is no need to have a deep understanding of Zen. Even though you read much Zen literature, you must read each sentence with a fresh mind. You should not say, "I know what Zen is," or "I have attained enlightenment." This is also the real secret of the arts: always be a beginner. Be very very careful about this point. If you start to practice zazen, you will begin to appreciate your beginner's mind. It is the secret of Zen practice.

  Shunryu Suzuki

  Art, Real, Practice

• In your everyday life you always have opportunities for enlightenment. If you go to the rest room, there is a chance to attain enlightenment. When you cook, there is a chance to attain enlightenment. When you clean the floor, there is a chance to attain enlightenment.

  Shunryu Suzuki

  Life, Opportunity, Everyday

• An enlightened person does not ignore things and does not stick to things, not even to the truth.

  Shunryu Suzuki

  Truth, Enlightenment, Doe

  Shunryu Suzuki, Mel Weitsman, Michael Wenger (1999). “Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness: Zen Talks on the Sandokai”, p.53, Univ of California Press

• Enlightenment is not a complete remedy.

  Shunryu Suzuki

  Enlightenment, Remedy

• It is not after we understand the truth that we attain enlightenment. To realize the truth is to live - to exist here and now.

  Shunryu Suzuki

  Enlightenment, Realizing, Truth Is

  Shunryu Suzuki (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.104, Shambhala Publications

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