Shunryu Suzuki Quotes

Don't worry about what might be...Worry about what is.

Who cares if you're enlightened forever? Can you just get it in this moment, now?

I don’t think of dying, I think of being here now.

I personally believe this: We have only today; yesterday's gone and tomorrow is uncertain. That's why they call it the present. And sobriety really is a gift... for those who are willing to receive it.

We hold on to hope, and hope robs us of the present moment.

In this world, all--men, women, and kings--must live for the present. We can only live for the future for God

The future is only a thought form. Work with the present moment. Be with what is.

We all spend so much time worrying about the future that the present moment slips right out of our hands. And so all we have left is retrospection and anticipation, retrospection and anticipation. In which case what's left to recall but past anticipation? What's left to anticipate but future retrospection?

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

Forget the future. I'd worship someone who could do that.

What will happen from now on? It doesn't matter. I can only focus on what's happening to me in this moment.

The most powerful state for a human to be in is the state of embracing completely the reality of what is - Now. It is to say "Yes" to life, which is now and always now. There is a vast power in that "Yes," that state of inner non-resistance to what is.

I have to live for the day, and not worry about or try to know what tomorrow brings.... if I've learned one thing from all that'shappened to me, it's that if you would know what tomorrow brings, you may not want to live it.

Enlightenment does not ask you to be perfect; it simply asks you to find perfection right where you stand.

Always say “yes” to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to what already is? what could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is. Say “yes” to life — and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.

Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it.

The present moment has always been available to spiritual seekers, but as long as you are seeking you are not available to the present moment. "Seeking" implies that you are looking to the future for some answer, or for some achievement, spiritual or otherwise. Everybody is in the seeking mode, seeking to add something to who they are, whether it be money, relationships, possessions, knowledge, status.. or spiritual attainment.

All you realy need to do is accept this moment fully. You are then at ease in the here and now and at ease with yourself.

There is only one world; the world pressing against you at this minute. There is only one minute in which you are alive; this minute here and now. The only way to live is by accepting each minute as an unrepeatable miracle.

Quit worrying about how everything is going to turn out. Live one day at a time; better yet, make the most of this moment.

When we let go of our battles and open our hearts to things as they are, then we come to rest in the present moment. This is the beginning and the end of spiritual practice.

Only one person in a thousand knows the trick of really living in the present. Most of us spend fifty-nine minutes an hour living in the past, with regret for lost joys or shame for things badly done (both utterly useless and weakening) or in a future which we either long for or dread. . . . There is only one minute in which you are alive, this minute, here and now. The only way to live is by accepting each minute as an unrepeatable miracle. Which is exactly what it is-a miracle and unrepeatable.

Change no one. Change nothing. React to no one, react to nothing. Do not live in the past and do not, worry about the future. Stay in the eternal now, where all is well. After all you are me and I am you. There's no difference. Do not react to the world. Do not even react to your own body. Do not even react to your own thoughts. Learn to become the witness. Learn to be quiet.

What I like about that is it kind of puts you in your place. Don't count on being remembered. Just live now, you know?

Never waste time and energy wishing you were somewhere else, doing something else. Accept your situation and realize you are where you are, doing what you are doing, for a very specific reason. Realize that nothing is by chance, that you have certain lessons to learn and that the situation you are in has been given to you to enable you to learn those lessons as quickly as possible, so that you can move onward and upward along this spiritual path.