Suzuki from the back cover of his 1970 book, “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind”

In an Oct. 11 talk delivered at a day-long retreat at Still Mind Zendo in Manhattan, Sensei Marisa Cespedes quoted Roshi Shunryū Suzuki: "Being alive is enough."

In the afternoon, we heard the work practice guideline; "Have a goal, but have no achievement in sight. Let the action be the achievement."

In an ambitious culture like ours, these Zen admonitions can sound like heresy.

I was googling around, as one does, and found more quotes from Suzuki Roshi in an essay about gratitude by Blanche Hartman.

"No gaining idea! No goal-seeking mind!" Suzuki said. "The most important point in our practice is to have right or perfect effort. Right effort directed in the right direction is necessary. If your effort is headed in the wrong direction, especially if you are not aware of this, it is deluded effort. Our effort in our practice should be directed from achievement to non-achievement."

Suzuki continued: "When you are involved in some dualistic practice, it means your practice is not pure. We do not mean to polish something, trying to make some impure thing pure. By purity we just mean things as they are.”

Hey. You're alive.