D. T. Suzuki 1870 – 1966
Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki was a Japanese author, scholar, and translator who did more than any other figure to introduce Mahayana Buddhism, especially Zen, to the English-speaking world. After early years of practice and study at Engaku-ji in Kamakura, he spent more than a decade in the United States as a translator and editor, then taught at Otani University in Kyoto and at Columbia. Through Essays in Zen Buddhism, Zen and Japanese Culture, and many translations, he shaped the reception of Buddhism by Heidegger, Jung, the Beat poets, and a generation of Western readers.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Japanese
- Era
- Contemporary
- Movements
- Buddhism
Selected quotes
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Attributed to D. T. Suzuki:
“Zen, in its essence, is the art of seeing into the nature of one's own being.”
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Attributed to D. T. Suzuki:
“If you have a glass full of liquid, you can discourse forever on its qualities, but until you drink it, you cannot know its taste.”
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Attributed to D. T. Suzuki:
“The truth of Zen is not in any of its statements, however profound; it is in life itself.”
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Attributed to D. T. Suzuki:
“We are too self-conscious, too logical, and we lose touch with the underlying reality of our own being.”
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Attributed to D. T. Suzuki:
“What we have to do is to keep on questioning what we are doing.”