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Not Always So

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Not Always So is based on Shunryu Suzuki's lectures and is framed in his own inimitable, allusive, paradoxical style, rich with unexpected and off–centre insights. Suzuki knew he was dying at the time of the lectures, which gives his thoughts an urgency and focus even sharper than in the earlier book.

In Not Always So Suzuki once again voices Zen in everyday language with the vigour, sensitivity, and buoyancy of a true friend. Here is support and nourishment. Here is a mother and father lending a hand, but letting you find your own way. Here is guidance which empowers your freedom (or way–seeking mind), rather than pinning you down to directions and techniques. Here is teaching which encourages you to touch and know your true heart and to express yourself fully, teaching which is not teaching from outside, but a voice arising in your own being. (Source Accessed Nov 25, 2020)

Citation	Suzuki, Shunryu. Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen. Edited by Edward Espe Brown. San Francisco: Quill, 2003. https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/Suzuki-Not-Always-So.pdf.

Contents

• Introductionvii

• Shikantaza: Living Fully in Each Moment
  • Calmness of Mind5
  • Express Yourself Fully8
  • Freedom from Everything12
  • Jumping off the 100-Foot Pole16
  • Changing Our Karma21
  • Enjoy Your Life25
  • Walk like an Elephant29

• Letters from Emptiness
  • Letters from Emptiness35
  • Brown Rice is just Right40
  • The Zen of Going to the Rest Room42
  • Caring for the Soil47
  • Everyday Life is like a Movie49
  • Resuming Big Mind53
  • Ordinary Mind, Buddha Mind58

• Practicing Zen
  • Supported from Within65
  • Open Your Intuition69
  • Find Out for Yourself72
  • Be Kind with Yourself77
  • Respect for Things81
  • Observing the Precepts85
  • Pure Silk, Sharp Iron89

• Not Always So
  • Not Always So95
  • Direct Experience of Reality99
  • True Concentration103
  • Wherever l Go, l Meet Myself107
  • The Boss of Everything111
  • Sincere Practice115
  • One with Everything120

• Wherever You Are, Enlightenment is There
  • Wherever You Are, Enlightenment is There127
  • Not Sticking to Enlightenment131
  • The Teaching Just for You134
  • Stand Up by the Ground139
  • Just Enough Problems143
  • Sun-Faced Buddha, Moon-Faced Buddha146
  • Sitting like a Frog151

• Notes about Editing the Lectures155
• Further Reading159
• Acknowledgments161