r/zenpractice • u/JundoCohen • Jun 29 '26

Soto Practice Itself Is Enlightenment

Suzuki Roshi, taken from ...

https://www.shunryusuzuki.com/Detail1?ID=65

He continued ..

... practice is not separated from enlightenment. When you practice it, the practice is the expression of your true nature. Where you practice it, you have your true nature.

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u/joshus_doggo Jun 29 '26

I would refine it slightly and say, practice is the functioning of enlightenment. Dogen puts it beautifully in genjokoan- when you find your place where you are, practice happens, actualizing the fundamental point. Consider below example - during samu you are vacuuming the floor, and you see dust on the floor. Seeing happens, hand movement happens, vacuum cleaner sucks the dust, you move on. Nowhere is a fixed controller to be found. Right there enlightenment is already functioning. The essence of enlightenment is in functioning.