June 1st, 1970
Originally offered: June 1st, 1970 | Modified May 21st, 2013 by korinShunryū Suzuki-rōshi
SANDŌKAI LECTURE III
Monday, June 1, 1970
Tassajara
Listen to this talk: Suzuki-roshi 70-06-01
[The following lines of the Sandōkai are discussed in this lecture:
Line 5 Reigen myōni kōkettari.
Line 6 Shiha anni ruchūsu.
Line 7 Ji wo shūsuru mo moto kore mayoi.
Line 8 Ri ni kanō mo mata satori ni ara zu.
Line 5 The true source is pure and stainless.
Line 6 The branch streams flow in the dark.
Line 7 Clutching at things is delusion.
Line 8 To recognize the truth is not always
enlightenment either.]
[Suzuki-rōshi sneezes directly into the mike as it is being set up. He and students laugh.] I want to know the feedback. [Laughs, laughter.] Oh my. [Laughs.]
After all, it’s better to follow one character after another like this. [Points to the blackboard where the characters of the text are written.[1]] This part is not so difficult. Reigen—rei is—rei is “something wonderful,” you know, “something beyond our description, beyond our words” is rei. Gen is “source—source of the teaching.” Reigen—”source of the teaching.”
The source of the teaching of Buddha, you know—Buddha—what Buddha talked about is the source of the teaching which is beyond our words in term of right or wrong. And this is important, you know. Rei-gen. Whatever we can think about is not source, you know. It is already something comes—come out from the source. The source is something unknown. Only buddha knows. Or only when you practice zazen you have it. Or even though you don’t practice it, or whether you realize it or not, you know, something which exist before our realization is source. The source is not like something, you know, to, you know, to put on lettuce [laughs, laughter]—not that kind of thing, you know. It is something which you cannot taste, you know, in term of tasty or not tasty. That is real source.






