Enlightenment is like everyday consciousness but two inches above the ground.
Interpretation
Enlightenment is an elevated state of awareness that transcends normal consciousness.
D.T. Suzuki's quote suggests that enlightenment is not a vast leap from daily awareness, but rather a subtle, higher state of understanding that enhances our perception of reality. It invites individuals to recognize that profound insights can be found in the ordinary experiences of life, encouraging one to remain grounded while seeking deeper awareness.
In practice
In a meditation workshop, this quote can inspire participants to seek deeper awareness in their daily lives.
Zen, in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one's own being, and it points the way from bondage to freedom. By making us drink right from the fountain of life it liberates us from all the yokes under which we finite beings are usually suffering in this world.
The basic idea of Zen is to come in touch with the inner workings of our being, and to do this in the most direct way possible, without resorting to anything external or superadded. Therefore, anything that has the semblance of an external authority is rejected by Zen. Absolute faith is placed in a man's own inner being. For whatever authority there is in Zen, all comes from within.
Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space?
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.
We teach ourselves; Zen merely points the way.
I am an artist at living - my work of art is my life.
I am not afraid of death. I just don't want to be there when it happens.
Lying increases the creative faculties, expands the ego, lessens the friction of social contacts. . . . It is only in lies, wholeheartedly and bravely told, that human nature attains through words and speech the forebearance, the nobility, the romance, the idealism, that-being what it is-it falls so short of in fact and in deed.
Hypocrite reader my fellow my brother!
Guilt -- if there was any guilt -- spread out and diffused itself over everybody and everything. . . . Perhaps at some point in time, at some spot in the world, a moment of responsibility existed.
Every good mathematician is at least half a philosopher, and every good philosopher is at least half a mathematician.
The president of the United States has claimed, on more than one occasion, to be in dialogue with God. If he said that he was talking to God through his hairdryer, this would precipitate a national emergency. I fail to see how the addition of a hairdryer makes the claim more ridiculous or offensive.
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