For Zen students, a weed is a treasure.
Shunryu SuzukiRead
Things are always changing, so nothing can be yours.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the transient nature of reality, suggesting that attachment to things is futile as everything is in constant flux.
Shunryu Suzuki highlights the impermanence of life in this quote, illustrating that nothing is permanent and therefore, trying to own or control aspects of life is ultimately futile. The acknowledgment of constant change is a central tenet in many philosophical and spiritual traditions, urging individuals to embrace the fluidity of existence rather than cling to illusions of possession or stability.
Themes
ChangeImpermanenceAttachmentLifeAcceptance
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a speech about adaptability in a volatile job market.
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
But you can't plead with autumn. No. The midnight wind stalked through the woods, hooted to frighten you, swept everything away for the approaching winter, whirled the leaves. ("The North")
Yevgeny ZamyatinRead
Life is not a static thing. The only people who do not change their minds are incompetents in asylums, and those in cemeteries.
Everett DirksenRead
When there's a disappointment, I don't know if it's the end of the story. It may just be the beginning of a great adventure.
Pema ChodronRead
What you saw was the people of New York having a debate, talking through these issues. It was contentious. It was emotional. But ultimately, they made a decision to recognize civil marriage. And I think that's exactly how things should work.
Barack ObamaRead
Women are an enslaved population - the crop we harvest is children, the fields we work are houses. Women are forced into committing sexual acts with men that violate integrity because the universal religion - contempt for women - has as its first commandment that women exist purely as sexual fodder for men.
Andrea DworkinRead
I have to march because my mother could not have an abortion.
Maxine WatersRead