Shunryu Suzuki on Transciency

Shunryu Suzuki Roshi: A Seminal figure in western Zen

"The basic teaching of Buddhism is transiency, or change. That everything changes is the basic truth for each existence. No one can deny this truth, and all the truth of Buddhism is condensed within it. This is the teaching for all of us. Wherever we go this teaching is true. This teaching is also understood as the teaching of selflessness. Because each existence is in constant change, there is no abiding self. In fact, the self-nature of each existence is nothing but change itself, the self-nature of all existence. There is no special, separate self-nature for each existence. This is also called the teaching of Nirvana. When we realize the everlasting truth of 'everything changes' and find our composure in it, we find ourselves in Nirvana."

(Shunryu Suzuki, in 'Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind,' p.91)

For more on the book quoted above, click here: Review: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind