We teach ourselves; Zen merely points the way.
Interpretation
Learning is a self-directed process, and guidance helps us find our path.
This quote by D.T. Suzuki emphasizes the idea that true learning and understanding come from within ourselves. While external guidance, like Zen teachings, can point us in the right direction, it is ultimately our own effort and introspection that facilitate personal growth and understanding.
In practice
During a workshop on mindfulness, one could say this quote to illustrate the importance of self-directed learning.
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.
Enlightenment is like everyday consciousness but two inches above the ground.
I am an artist at living - my work of art is my life.
I am confident in saying that Oberlin did more for me than vice versa. I took a fantastic class in religion, which led me to archaeology, which got me to the Middle East, which led me to international relations, which launched me on my career.
That endless book, the newspaper, is our national glory.
God forbid that any book should be banned. The practice is as indefensible as infanticide.
I read Carver. Julio Cortazar. Amis's essays. Baldwin. Lorrie Moore. Capote. Saramago. Larkin. Wodehouse. Anything, anything at all, that doesn't sound like me.
Today knowledge has power. It controls access to opportunity and advancement.
I've learned quite a lot, over the years, by avoiding what I was supposed to be learning.
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