Zen Is Right Here: The Wisdom of Shunryu Suzuki

The profound Zen teachings of Suzuki Roshi brought to life by personal stories and anecdotes from his students.

Shunryu Suzuki’s extraordinary gift for conveying traditional Zen teachings using ordinary language is well known to the countless readers of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. In Zen Is Right Here, we experience an intimate encounter with his teachings through stories told about him by his students. These living encounters with Zen are poignant, direct, humorous, paradoxical, and enlightening; and their setting in real-life contexts makes them wonderfully accessible.

Like the Buddha himself, Suzuki Roshi gave profound teachings that were skillfully expressed for each moment, person, and situation he encountered. He emphasized that while the ungraspable essence of Buddhism is constant, the expression of that essence is always changing. Each of the stories presented here is an example of this versatile and timeless quality, showing that the potential for attaining enlightenment exists right here, right now, in this very moment.