# Quote — Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

> Practice does not mean that whatever you do, even lying down, is zazen. When the restrictions you have do not limit you, this is what we mean by practice….
>
> When you sit, you will sit. When you eat, you will eat…. If you say,”It doesn’t matter,” it means that you are making some excuse to do something in your own way with your small mind. It means that you are to some particular thing or way. That is not what we mean when we say, “Just to sit is enough,” or “Whatever you do is zazen.” Of course, everything you do is zazen, but if so, there is no need to say it.

- Author: [Shunryu Suzuki](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shunryu-suzuki.md)
- Book: [Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shunryu-suzuki/zen-mind-beginners-mind.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Shunryu_Suzuki#Right_Practice) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/shunryu-suzuki/zen-mind-beginners-mind/practice-does-not

## More from this book

> Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shunryu-suzuki/zen-mind-beginners-mind/without-accepting-the.md)

> The purpose of studying Buddhism is not to study Buddhism but to study ourselves. You are not your body. You are the Big Activity. You are just expressing the smallest particle of the Big Activity. That is all. But when you become attached to a temporal expression of the Big Activity, it is time to talk about Buddhism.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shunryu-suzuki/zen-mind-beginners-mind/the-purpose-of-studying.md)

> After you have practiced for a while, you will realize that it is not possible to make rapid, extraordinary progress. Even though you try very hard, the progress you make is always little by little. It is not like going out in a shower in which you know when you get wet. In a fog, you do not know you are getting wet, but as you keep walking you get wet little by little. If your mind has ideas of progress, you may say, "Oh, this pace is terrible!" But actually it is not. When you get wet in a fog it is very difficult to dry yourself. So there is no need to worry about progress.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shunryu-suzuki/zen-mind-beginners-mind/after-you-have.md)