For Zen students, a weed is a treasure.
Shunryu SuzukiRead
Everything is perfect, but there is a lot of room for improvement.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the notion that while things may seem ideal, there is always potential for growth and enhancement.
Shunryu Suzuki emphasizes the idea that perfection is a relative term and that despite the beauty and completeness of the present moment, there is always an opportunity for improvement. This perspective encourages continuous development and fosters an attitude of mindfulness, where one appreciates the current state while recognizing the potential for further growth and evolution.
Themes
ImprovementPerfectionGrowthMindfulnessDevelopment
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about personal growth.
More from Shunryu Suzuki
All quotes βIf you take pride in your attainment or become discouraged because of your idealistic effort, your practice will confine you by a thick wall.
Shunryu SuzukiRead
As long as you seek for something, you will get the shadow of reality and not reality itself.
Shunryu SuzukiRead
No teaching could be more direct than just to sit down.
Shunryu SuzukiRead
When you do not realize that you are one with the river, or one with the universe, you have fear. Whether it is separated into drops or not, water is water. Our life and death are the same thing. When we realize this fact, we have no fear of death anymore.
Shunryu SuzukiRead
Leave your front door and your back door open. _x000D_ Allow your thoughts to come and go. _x000D_ Just don't serve them tea.
Shunryu SuzukiRead
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It is not indeed certain, that the most refined caution will find a proper time for bringing a man to the knowledge of his own failing, or the most zealous benevolence reconcile him to that judgment by which they are detected; but he who endeavours only the happiness of him whom he reproves will always have either the satisfaction of obtaining or deserving kindness; if he succeeds, he benefits his friend; and if he fails, he has at least the consciousness that he suffers for only doing well.
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