For Zen students, a weed is a treasure.
Shunryu SuzukiRead
The true purpose of Zen is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes. Zen practice is to open up our small mind.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Zen encourages seeing reality clearly and releasing attachments. It emphasizes an open-minded approach to life.
This quote by Shunryu Suzuki highlights the essence of Zen practice, which is to cultivate a clear perception of reality without the distortions of our own preconceptions and judgments. It suggests that true understanding and peace come from letting go of our mental constraints and approaching life with an open mind, accepting things as they are rather than as we wish them to be.
Themes
ZenMindfulnessAcceptanceClarityRealityLetting Go
In practice
Example use cases
In a meditation retreat, the teacher reminded us that the true purpose of Zen is to observe our thoughts without judgment.
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
I'm not interested in living in a world where my race is not a part of who I am. I am interested in living in a world where our races, no matter what they are, don't define our trajectory in life.
Kerry WashingtonRead
Beautiful is the moment in which we understand that we are no more than an instrument of God; we live only as long as God wants us to live; we can only do as much as God makes us able to do; we are only as intelligent as God would have us be.
Oscar RomeroRead
Animals are the main victims of history, and the treatment of domesticated animals in industrial farms is perhaps the worst crime in history.
Yuval Noah HarariRead
Each of us has interests which conflict the interests of everybody else... 'everybody else' we call 'society'. It's a powerful opponent and it always wins. Oh, here and there an individual prevails for a while and gets what he wants. Sometimes he storms the culture of a society and changes it to his own advantage. But society wins in the long run, for it has the advantage of numbers and of age.
B. F. SkinnerRead
The same relation exists between merchant and pirate, who for a long period are one and the same person: where the one function appears to them inadvisable, they exercise the other.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
Whoever serves his country well has no need of ancestors.
VoltaireRead