Shunryu Suzuki Quotes

Knowing yourself is to be rooted in Being, instead of lost in your mind.

No thought, no mind, no choice — just being silent, rooted in yourself.

Mind is the absence of meditation. The moment meditation arises in you, mind is found nowhere.

Zen insight is not our awareness, but Being's awareness of itself in us.

The awakened heart and mind can be experienced as clarity itself, pure knowing.

Your duty is to be, and not to be this or that. I Am That I Am sums up the whole truth; the method is summarized in Be Still.

Mind is something unnatural; it never becomes your natural state. But meditation is a natural state - which we have lost.

Meditation is nothing but putting the mind aside, putting the mind out of the way, and bringing a witnessing which is always there but hidden underneath the mind. This witnessing will reach to your center, and once you have become enlightened, then there is no problem. Then bring the mind in tune with you

We do not know it because we are fooling away our time with outward and perishing things, and are asleep in regard to that which is real within ourself.

You'll never find peace of mind until you listen to your heart.

The mind is always present. You just don't see it.

The answer is, who you are cannot be defined through thinking or mental labels or definitions, because it's beyond that. It is the very sense of being, or presence, that is there when you become conscious of the present moment. In essence, you and what we call the present moment are, at the deepest level, one.

We have what we seek, it is there all the time, and if we give it time, it will make itself known to us.

Focus your mind on what your Highest Self chooses to be.

You may return here once you have fully come to understand that you are always here.

To be conscious of Being, you need to reclaim consciousness from the mind. This is one of the most essential tasks on your spiritual journey.

When you are present, you can allow the mind to be as it is without getting entangled in it. The mind itself is a wonderful tool. Dysfunction sets in when you seek your self in it and mistake it for who you are.

Whenever you meditate, there are glimpses. Then the mind comes in and says, 'Be happy! Look, I have done it.' And immediately the contact is lost.

It is not a question of sitting silently, it is not a question of chanting a mantra. It is a question of understanding the subtle workings of the mind. As you understand those workings of the mind a great awareness arises in you, which is not of the mind. That awareness arises in your being, in your soul, in your consciousness.

When the wisdom of the heart replaces the chatter of the mind, The power of Love flows forth.

Being is accessible to you now as your own deepest self, your true nature. But don't seek to grasp it with your mind. Don't try to understand it. You can know it only when the mind is still. When you are present, when your attention is fully and intensely in the Now, Being can be felt, but it can never be understood mentally.

When you are present, you can allow the mind to be as it is without getting entangled in it.

Meditation cannot be taught, it can only be caught. I am meditation. If you are available you can catch it.