For Zen students, a weed is a treasure.
Shunryu SuzukiRead
Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Imperfections in life reveal the true nature of reality.
This quote by Shunryu Suzuki emphasizes that the flaws and imperfections we encounter in our experiences are not to be dismissed but rather embrace them, as they contribute to the authentic essence of reality. It suggests that perfection is an illusion, and the richness of life is found in its inherent imperfections.
Themes
ImperfectionRealityAuthenticityPhilosophyLife
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about embracing diversity, this quote can illustrate how differences make us whole.
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
Everything is perfect, but there is a lot of room for improvement.
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
Similar quotes
Any young man who is unmarried at the age of twenty one is a menace to the community.
Brigham YoungRead
Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to a mind when it has once seized on it like a lichen on a rock." - Frankenstein p115
Mary Wollstonecraft ShelleyRead
The highways are crowded with people who drive as if their sole purpose in getting behind the wheel is to avenge every wrong done them by man, beast or fate. The only thing that keeps them in line is their fear of death, jail and lawsuits.
Hunter S. ThompsonRead
Man is above all else mind, consciousness -- that is, he is a product of history, not of nature.
Antonio GramsciRead
If your heart acquires strength, you will be able to remove blemishes from others without thinking evil of them.
Mahatma GandhiRead
The plain truth is we are going to die. Here I am, a teeny spec surrounded by boundless space and time, arguing with the whole of creation, shaking my fist, sputtering, growing even eloquent at times, and then-poof! I am gone. Swept off once and for all. I think that is very, very funny.
Charles SimicRead