surprising = causing the feeling of surprise surprised = possessing the feeling of surprise

Surprised means somebody wonder of some thing or events: He was surprised by her behavior. Surprising means a thing or event is unexpected or extraodinary: Surprising warm days were this April. I do hope I am right in understanding the words. i am just learning English,too. =)

'Surprising' describes the subject of 'surprise' ie. it describes the thing doing the surprising. 'Surprised' describes the object of 'surprise'. 'Surprised' and 'surprising' are both adjectives, but they're derived from the passive and present continuous forms of 'surprised' respectively. ex. 'Surprising' in 'I am surprising' could be considered either an adjective or the present continuous form of 'surprise'. Likewise, 'surprised' in 'I am surprising' could be considered either an adjective or the passive form of 'surprise'. So if a person jumps out and scares me, then that person is surprising and I am surprised (ie. They surprised me). Inanimate objects or concepts can't be surprised because they can't have emotions, but if they make someone feel surprised then they're surprising.