All the causes, all the conditions of satori are in the mind; they are merely waiting for the maturing. When the mind is ready for some reasons or others, a bird flies, or a bell rings, and you at once return to your original home; that is, you discover your now real self. From the very beginning nothing has been kept from you, all that you wished to see has been there all the time before you, it was only yourself that closed the eye to the fact. Therefore, there is in zen nothing to explain, nothing to teach, that will add to your knowledge. Unless it grows out of yourself no knowledge is really yours, it is only a borrowed plumage.

An Introduction to Zen Buddhism

D.T. Suzuki

In this spiritual world there are no time divisions such as the past, present and future; for they have contracted themselves into a single moment of the present where life quivers in its true sense...The past and the future are both rolled up in this present moment of illumination, and this present moment is not something standing still with all its contents, for it ceaselessly moves on.

D.T. Suzuki

When we start to feel anxious or depressed, instead of asking, "What do I need to get to be happy?" The question becomes, "What am I doing to disturb the inner peace that I already have?

D.T. Suzuki

One of the most significant features we notice in the practice of archery, and in fact of all the arts as they are studied in Japan and probably also in other Far Eastern countries, is that they are not intended for utilitarian purposes only or for purely aesthetic enjoyments, but are meant to train the mind; indeed, to bring it into contact with the ultimate reality.

D.T. Suzuki

Life, according to Zen, should be lived as a bird flies through the air, or as a fish swims in water.

D. T. Suzuki

D.T. Suzuki Museum, Kanazawa

“The idea of Zen is to catch life as it flows. There is nothing extraordinary or mysterious about Zen. I raise my hand; I take a book from the other side of the desk; I hear the boys playing ball outside my window; I see the clouds blown away beyond the neighboring wood — in all these I am practicing Zen, I am living Zen. No wordy discussion is necessary, nor any explanation… When the sun rises the whole world dances with joy and everybody’s heart is filled with bliss. If Zen is at all conceivable, it must be taken hold of here.”

D.T. Suzuki

Gli uccelli volano – questa è la loro volontà. Le rocce stanno dove stanno – questa è la loro volontà. I fiumi scorrono – questa è la loro volontà. Gli esseri umani parlano – questa è la loro volontà. Le stagioni mutano, il cielo manda pioggia o neve, la terra di tanto in tanto trema, le onde si accavallano, le stelle brillano – ciascuna di queste cose segue la propria volontà. Essere è volere e pertanto è divenire. (D.T.Suzuki) art by_giorgioquepee8081_ ***************** Birds fly – this is their will. The rocks are where they are – that is their will. Rivers flow – this is their will. Human beings speak – this is their will. The seasons change, the sky sends rain or snow, the earth trembles from time to time, the waves overlap, the stars shine – each of these things follows its own will. Being is wanting and therefore it is becoming. (D.T. Suzuki) art by_giorgioquepee8081_ 

Man is a thinking reed but his great works are done when he is not calculating and thinking. "Childlikeness" has to be restored with long years of training in the art of self-forgetfulness.

When this is attained, man thinks yet he does not think. He thinks like the showers coming down from the sky; he thinks like the waves rolling on the ocean; he thinks like the stars illuminating the nightly heavens; he thinks like the green foliage shooting forth in the relaxing spring breeze.

Indeed, he is the showers, the ocean, the stars, the foliage.

D.T. Suzuki

Zen professes itself to be the spirit of Buddhism, but in fact, it is the spirit of all religions and philosophies. When Zen is thoroughly understood, absolute peace of mind is attained, and a man lives as he ought to live.

D.T. Suzuki

We have two eyes to see two sides of things, but there must be a third eye which will see everything at the same time and yet not see anything. That is to understand Zen.

— D. T. Suzuki