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.
My favorite subject was recess. Fortunately for me, I had a mother who believed I was smart.
Unless children have strong education and strong families and strong communities and decent housing, it's not enough to go sit in at a lunch counter.
Learning is pleasurable but doing is the height of enjoyment.
There is always a place I can take someone's curiosity and land where they end up enlightened when we're done. That's my challenge as an educator. No one is dumb who is curious. The people who don't ask questions remain clueless throughout their lives.
The Greeks understood that mind and body must develop in harmonious proportions to produce a creative intelligence. And so did the most brilliant intelligence of our earliest days - Thomas Jefferson - when he said, not less than two hours a day should be devoted to exercise. If the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence, was Secretary of State, and twice President, could give it two hours, our children can give it ten or fifteen minutes.
As we segregate by income into different communities, schools in lower-income areas have fewer resources than ever.
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