quotes by Shunryu Suzuki

"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, but in the expert's mind there are few. "
— Shunryu Suzuki

"Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else."
— Shunryu Suzuki (Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind)

"Whereever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are one with everything. That is more true than I can say, and more true than you can hear."
— Shunryu Suzuki

"Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality."
— Shunryu Suzuki

"Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But in the imperfection is perfect reality."
— Shunryu Suzuki

"When something dies is the greatest teaching."
— Shunryu Suzuki (Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind)

"enjoy your problems"
— Shunryu Suzuki

"The most important point is to accept yourself and stand on your two feet."
— Shunryu Suzuki

"If you understand real practice, then archery or other activities can be zen. If you don't understand how to practice archery in its true sense, then even though you practice very hard, what you acquire is just technique. It won't help you through and through. Perhaps you can hit the mark without trying, but without a bow and arrow you cannot do anything. If you understand the point of practice, then even without a bow and arrow the archery will help you. How you get that kind of power or ability is only through right practice."
— Shunryu Suzuki (Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen)

"Christopher McCandless:"I will miss you too, but you are wrong if you think that the joy of life comes principally from the joy of human relationships. God's place is all around us, it is in everything and in anything we can experience. People just need to change the way they look at things."

Christopher McCandless: [written into book] Happiness only real when shared."
— Shunryu Suzuki