Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Shunryu Suzuki, also Daisetsu Teitaro or D.T. Suzuki or Suzuki-Roshi

Zen Scholar, Author, Teacher, Zen Master (roshi)

"Preparing food is not just about yourself and others. It is about everything!"

"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."

"Real Freedom is to not feel limited when wearing this Zen robe, this troublesome formal robe. Similarly, in our busy life we should wear this civilization without being bothered by it, without ignoring it, without being caught by it."

"Renunciation is not giving up the things of the world, but accepting that they go away."

"Running away from fear is fear; fighting pain is pain; trying to be brave is being scared. If the mind is in pain, the mind is in pain. The thinker has no other form than his thought."

"So I say, ‘Oh, I am sorry but soon you will see the bright sunrise every morning and beautiful sunset in the evening, every evening, but right now perhaps you…under your situation it may be impossible to see the beautiful sunset or bright sunrise, or beautiful flower in your garden, and it is impossible to take care of your garden, but soon you will see the beauty of the flowers and you will cut some flowers for your room.’ When you start to do this kind of thing you are alright. Don’t worry a bit. It means when you become you, yourself, and when you see things as they are, and when you become at one with your surroundings, in its true sense, there is true self."

"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."

"Strictly speaking, there are no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity."

"Take care of things, and they will take care of you."

"So the secret is just to say 'Yes!' and jump off from here. Then there is no problem. It means to be yourself, always yourself, without sticking to an old self."

"Tai Shimano visited Shunryu Suzuki. How are you feeling these days? Suzuki replied, They have a new name for me: Cancer!"

"That bird is free – you owe me a bird."

"Technology is only destructive in the hands of people who do not realize that they are one and the same process as the universe."

"Technical knowledge is not enough. One must transcend techniques so that the art becomes an artless art, growing out of the unconscious."

"The best way is to understand yourself, and then you will understand everything."

"That's why I love philosophy: no one wins."

"That Was Zen; This Is Tao"

"The first principle is not something that Buddha or other people came up with. If you think what Buddha proclaimed is the Royal Law, that is not right. The Royal Law was already there before he was on the pulpit."

"The greatest productions of art, whether painting, music, sculpture or poetry, have invariably this quality--something approaching the work of God."

"The illness of modern man comes mostly from his forgetting the loving and inspiring and creative use of the hands."

"The event of creation did not take place so many kalpas or eons ago, astronomically or biologically speaking. Creation is taking place every moment of our lives."

"The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious."

"The point we emphasize is strong confidence in our original nature."

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

"The most important thing is to find out what is the most important thing."

"The right art is purposeless, aimless! The more obstinately you try to learn how to shoot the arrow for the sake of hitting the goal, the less you will succeed in the one and the further the other will recede."

"The rocks are where they are- and this is their will. The rivers flow- and this is their will. The birds fly- this is their will. Human beings talk- this is their will. The seasons change, heaven sends down rain or snow, the earth occasionally shakes, the waves roll, the stars shine- each of them follows its own will. To be is to will and so is to become."

"The secret of Soto Zen is just two words: not always so."

"The true purpose of Zen is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes. Zen practice is to open up our small mind."

"The truth of Zen, just a little bit of it, is what turns one's hum drum life, a life of monotonous, uninspiring commonplaceness, into one of art, full of genuine inner creativity."

"There are, strictly speaking, no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity."

"The way that helps will not be the same; it changes according to the situation."

"There is nothing absolute for us, but when nothing is absolute, that is absolute."

"There is no particular teaching or way, but the buddha-nature of all is the same, what we find is the same."

"There is no formula for generating the authentic warmth of love…Everyone has love, but it can only come out when he is convinced of the impossibility and frustration of trying to love himself. This conviction will not come through condemnations, through hating oneself, through calling self-love bad names in the universe. It comes only in the awareness that one has no self to love."

"To give your sheep or cow a large spacious meadow is the way to control him."

"To point at the moon a finger is needed, but woe to those who take the finger for the moon."

"To accept some idea of truth without experiencing it is like a painting of a cake on paper which you cannot eat. There is no taste, and you will give up, because it doesn't mean anything, even though you sit seven days. But our true zazen cannot be like that. If Zen was like that, it would have vanished from this world a long time ago. Zen is still alive because of the other side of the truth. Only when each one of us feels the truth, appreciates the truth, accepts the truth, and is ready to follow the truth, will it work. When someone puts himself outside of the truth in order to study the truth, he won't know what to do when something happens to him."

"There will always be war, but we must always work to oppose it."

"Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else."

"True communication depends upon our being straight-forward with one another. Zen masters are very straight-forward. If you do not understand the reality directly through your master's words, he may use his staff on you."

"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."

"We have to study with our warm heart, not just with our brain."

"We have two eyes to see two sides of things, but there must be a third eye which will see everything at the same time and yet not see anything. That is to understand Zen."

"We are at war between consciousness and nature, between the desire for permanence and the fact of flux. It is our self against ourselves."

"We should not be just a fan of dragons; we should always be the dragon himself. Then we will not be afraid of any dragon."

"We can see unmistakeably that there is an inner relationship between Zen and the warrior's life."

"When everything is a part of you then you are what you really are."

"What we call ‘I’ is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and exhale."

"What is true zazen? What do you mean by Zen becomes Zen and you become you? You become you is a very important point. You become you. When you become you, even though you are in bed, you may not be you most of the time. Even though you are sitting here, I wonder whether you are you in its true sense. So to be you is zazen."