D.T. Suzuki Quotes

Zen has nothing to teach us in the way of intellectual analysis; nor has it any set doctrines which are imposed on its followers for acceptance.

Let the intellect alone, it has its usefulness in its proper sphere, but let it not interfere with the flowing of the life-stream.

We have much to learn by studying nature and taking the time to tease out its secrets.

Pearl Harbor was the defining event in my life. It shaped who I am, and all of my hang-ups and my drives, I think, stem from that.

Fukushima is the most terrifying situation I can imagine.

We are playing Russian roulette with features of the planet’s atmosphere that will profoundly impact generations to come. How long are we willing to gamble?

More than a billion people lack adequate access to clean water.

There are some things in the world we can't change.

Feeding our energy appetite is top of mind for many people these days.

When you train your thoughts to dissolve as they arise, they will cross your mind like a bird crosses the sky--without leaving a trace.

The fate of a child is in the hands of his parents.

I play with children so that I can learn from them.

Man is a child of his environment

Enlightenment is not a complete remedy.

In the zazen posture, your mind and body have, great power to accept things as they are, whether agreeable or disagreeable.

We should not be just a fan of dragons; we should always be the dragon himself. Then we will not be afraid of any dragon.

If you think your body and mind are two, that is wrong; if you think that they are one, that is also wrong. Our body and mind are both two and one.

Each one of us must make his own true way, and when we do, that way will express the universal way.

Our mind should be free from traces of the past, just like the flowers of spring.

A garden is never finished.

The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the experts, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all possibilities.

Let your ears hear without trying to hear. Let the mind think without trying to think and without trying to stop it. That is practice.

The secret of Soto Zen is just two words: not always so.... In Japanese, it's two words, three words in English. That is the secret of our practice.

Only when you understand people, they may understand you. So even though you do not say anything, if you understand people there is some communication.

Big mind is something to express, not something to figure out. Big mind is something you have, not something to seek for.

There should not be any particular teaching. Teaching is in each moment.

If you want to study Zen, you should forget all your previous ideas and just practice zazen and see what kind of experience you have in your practice. That is naturalness.

No matter what god or doctrine you believe in, if you become attached to it, your belief will be based more or less on a self-centered idea.

Those who sit perfectly physically usually take more time to obtain the true way of Zen.

We die, and we do not die.

From True Emptiness The Wondrous Being Appears

If you think you will get something from practicing zazen, already you are involved in impure practice.

Each of you is perfect the way you are ... and you can use a little improvement.

Even if the sun were to rise from the west, the Bodhisattva has only one way.

When something dies is the greatest teaching.

Those who have no prejudices in themselves do not reject people, and therefore people do not reject them.

When mountain-climbing is made too easy, the spiritual effect the mountain exercises vanishes into the air.

The failure of world leaders to act on the critical issue of global warming is often blamed on economic considerations.

From year to year, environmental changes are incremental and often barely register in our lives, but from evolutionary or geological perspectives, what is happening is explosive change.

Art always has something of the unconscious about it.

When I say that Zen is life, I mean that Zen is not to be confined within conceptualization, that Zen is what makes conceptualization possible.

Our planet has not seen an extinction crisis as serious as the one in progress for 65 million years.

Our identity includes our natural world, how we move through it, how we interact with it and how it sustains us.

We have become a force of nature.

Everybody in the states is so relaxed, and everybody in Japan is so uptight.

When you mail Ichiro something from the States, you only have to use that name on the address and he gets it (in Japan). He's that big.

Every child grows; everything depends on the teacher.

I cannot live without children.

So when you try hard to make your own way, you will help others...before you make your own way you cannot help anyone, and no one can help you.

To find perfect composure in the midst of change is to find nirvana.