July 31st, 2010 by admin

Suzuki-roshi at Tassajara
Lecture by Suzuki-rōshi
Wednesday, March 22, 1967
[Suzuki-rōshi read a rendition of "Jōshu's Mu." He said Jōshu began serious study, including travel and visits to various masters, after the age of 60. Before that he spent most of his time caring for his old Zen teacher.]
“Has a dog Buddha nature?” Everyone knows that Buddha nature is everywhere and includes everything. (It is so stated in a sutra). But if we all are Buddha, i.e., if buddha-nature is everywhere, why practice zazen? Consider the air; it too is everywhere; but until we use a fan, we are not aware of it. Zazen may be likened to the fanning. However, awareness of Buddha nature, or the solution to mu are not our only problems. So there is no need to be narrowly over-concerned with what Buddha nature refers to. You should not strain too hard to know what Zen is. One cannot study Zen in the usual manner. The way to study Zen is to be always aware of yourself, to be careful, to be sincere with yourself. Awareness means that when reading (including Zen materials), your mind should not get caught by any idea. It should remain open. Similarly with sights and sounds… don’t allow your mind’s self-awareness to get lost or absorbed. In other words, always remain conscious of what you are doing, of what is going on. In all our activities we should have “inward eyes.” This is especially so during physical actions, because then our minds are not as full of activity. When we are reading or thinking, our minds are not as full of activity. When we are involved in physical activity, then the mind is at full operation…it is open. When we are thus attentive and one with our activity, we can deepen our understanding. When we practice this way, everything that happens is within our mind and everything we are involved in is the content of our practice. Such awareness of body-mind means that sounds, for example, arise from within the mind. Here (in body-mind) there is no duality. Body-mind arises when practice is within yourself-Zen conduct is occurring when there is no duality.
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Tags: Buddha-nature
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July 31st, 2010 by admin
Shunryū Suzuki-rōshi
March 12, 1967
The world of thinking is that of our ordinary mind. The world of consciousness is that of buddha-mind. Phenomena in the world of thinking are constantly being named or labeled by our minds as we experience these phenomena. The world of consciousness-mind does not label or name, it only reflects, i.e., perceives, hears, or feels, etc.
The Buddhist way then of understanding phenomena (which are also Buddha) is by accurate unbiased observation followed by reflection of a similar nature.
In the world of thinking, subject and object are two, are separate, and act thus upon another. In the world of consciousness the subject and object are assimilated. Linguistically the world of thinking links subject and predicate (object) with a transitive verb; in the world of consciousness, the predicate is the subject, and linked to it by an intransitive verb-the predicate-object extends and clarifies the subject via a verb like “is.”
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July 31st, 2010 by admin

Suzuki-roshi with Philip Wilson (I think) at Tassajara
Rev Suzuki lecture
February 2, 1967
Los Altos
As I cannot speak your language so well that I find some way to communicate with you. And this effort I think results something very good. Originally we say if we do not understand master’s word you cannot understand our way. Communication is very important in our practice. If you…we say if you do not understand master’s word, or master’s language…I do not know…not language, but word…anyway the way he speaks, or to understand your master in its true sense that is what we mean. So this is not just word or language, but language in its wider sense. So through his words you understand more than what he says. Statements usually involved in or implied speaker’s subjective intention as well as listener’s situation, or listener’s objective situation, or matters about statement is told. So no word is perfect; it is involved in something, some statement. So there’s no perfect word. It is always involved in something…some distortion is always follow in statement. But through statement we have to understand the fact, or the event, or something which has happened to us. You may say Being, or Ultimate Truth. Ultimate Truth we do not mean something eternal, something constant, but we mean the things as it is, you may say Being or Reality. If we understand things as it is that is Reality. But it is difficulty to speak about the reality, because when I speak about it my subjective intention is involved in it and it implies some subjective opinion about it; so it is not possible to speak about Reality. But through master’s word we have to understand the Reality directly.
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Tags: Expression
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July 31st, 2010 by admin
Rev. Suzuki lecture
January 12, 1967
Don’t try to stop the thinking when you are practicing zazen. Let it stop. If something comes into your mind let it come and let it go out. It will not stay long. But if you try to stop it, it means you are bothered by it. Don’t be bothered by anything. Actually we say something comes from outside, but it is…actually it is the waves of your mind, so wave cannot be…will stay…will become more and more calm. So in five minutes or at most ten minutes your mind will be completely serene and calm. At that time your breathing becomes pretty slow, while your pulse of your hand becomes a little bit faster. We don’t know why, but if you will check your pulse (you, yourself cannot do it but it appears in that way). It takes pretty long time before you get calm, serene mind in your practice, but even though you have waves in your mind that is waves in your own mind. Nothing comes out from out here. Nothing can bother…nothing can cause any trouble for your mind. You make your mind disturbed…bothered by…you make waves of your mind. So if you don’t…if you let it as it is your mind will be calm. Usually our mind expects something from outside…our mind is ready to accept something from outside, but that is not true understanding of our mind. According to our understanding, mind includes everything. Nothing comes from outside. Our mind has everything, and when you think something comes from outside it means your mind…in your mind something appears. In this way you accept things. If your mind is related to some other things, that mind is small mind, limited mind.
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Tags: Zazen
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July 31st, 2010 by admin

Rev. Suzuki lecture
January 5, 1967
Los Altos
In our practice the important thing is our physical posture we take, and breathing…way of taking breathing. Those are very important because we have…we are not so much concerned about our deep understanding of Buddhism. As a philosophy Buddhism has very deep and wide and firm system in our thought, but Zen does not concerned about those philosophical understanding but we emphasize our practice. But why it is so important…we must understand why our physical posture and breathing exercise is important is…there is some reason and instead of discussing or having deep understanding of the teaching we want strong confidence, or you may say faith, a kind of faith in our teaching that we have originally Buddha Nature. And our practice is based on this faith. Originally we have Buddha Nature. If so we have to behave like Buddha is why we practice zazen. You may feel rather funny in our reason why we practice zazen but if you compare the various practice or training with our…to our practice you will understand our practice better.
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Tags: Buddha-nature, Gaining Idea
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July 31st, 2010 by admin
Shunryū Suzuki-rōshi
December 17, 1966
DECEMBER ONE-DAY SESSHIN LECTURE: Saturday Evening
Lecture B
Listen to this talk: Suzuki-roshi 66-12-17 2nd talk
The fourth instruction is:[1]
The Need for Training in Buddhism without Self-Seeking Mind
In Buddhist training we always received the true Key handed down by our predecessors. How can we use our selfish mind for this? We cannot gain Buddhism with mind or without mind. Just remember that if the training will—will—training will and the Buddhist way to do—Buddhist way do not combine, our body and mind are not calm. If not calm, our body and mind are not comfortable.
If we have gaining idea, we cannot practice Buddhism, which is something beyond our ordinal [ordinary] purpose of life. Usually our conscious activity is directed towards some merit or some result. We are expecting result, whatever we do. But there may be difference—there may be two cases: one you expect result after doing something, and you expect the result within your activity. There is—there may be two cases. The—to practice zazen because of the interest in practicing zazen is also, strictly speaking, a gaining idea. Of course, to expect something after your practice, this is of course gaining idea. “If you practice zazen you will be healthy,” or “You will have some mystic power like some magic.” This is, of course, is not Zen.
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Tags: Gaining Idea
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July 31st, 2010 by admin

Suzuki-roshi waving goodbye at the airport on his way to the US
Shunryū Suzuki-rōshi
December 17, 1966
DECEMBER ONE-DAY SESSHIN LECTURE: Saturday 1 PM
Lecture A
Listen to this talk: Suzuki-roshi 66-12-17
Tape operator: This is the one o’clock lecture on the Saturday, December 17th sesshin.
Suzuki-rōshi: In the first instruction of ten instructions in Gakudō-yōjin-shū,[1] Dōgen-zenji emphasize to arise the way-seeking mind. And way-seeking mind, according to him, is the mind to—the mind to—to have direct feeling of evanescence of life. When we feel the evanescence of life directly, we will not have any more ego-centered idea. And our practice will be quite pure and strong. And on each moment, we will do our best in our practice. That is the most important point in our way.
And in the second instruction, he emphasize the immediate respond [response] to the teaching. And according to him, even listen to the teaching is the practice—not only zazen practice. It is not actually—after you hear the teaching and practice zazen and attain enlightenment. The attaining enlightenment and to practice zazen and to hear the instruction is one, and three takes place simultaneously. That is his understanding of to here.
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Tags: Practice & Enlightenment
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July 31st, 2010 by korin

At Zoun-in, c. 1930. (Left to right) Shunryu's father Butsumon Sogaku, Shunryu (squatting), Hino-san (Tori's husband), Shunryu's sister Tori Hino and baby, temple caretaker, and Shunryu's mother, Yone.
Rev. S. Suzuki lecture
December 8, 1966
I am very glad to be here the day Buddha was born … when Buddha attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. When he attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree he said, “It is wonderful to see Buddha nature on everything and in each individual.” What he meant was when we practice zen…zazen we have Buddha nature and we are all Buddha himself. By practice he did not mean just to sit under the Bodhi tree or to sit in cross-legged posture. Our cross-legged posture is the basic posture or original posture for us…most fundamental way of being here. But what he meant actually was that mountain is or trees are or flowing water or flowers and plants and everything as they are is the way Buddha is. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Buddha-nature
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July 31st, 2010 by admin
SUZUKI-RŌSHI
Wednesday, November 30, 1966
Old Bush Street Zendo
by Tony Artino
(Tony missed the first part of the lecture)
Religion is just for ourselves. We cannot really be religious for others. But neither can we help ourselves without helping others.
The point is to get beyond merely deliberate conscious behavior. To consciously help others is a self-centered activity. Correct helping is an activity without (self-determined) purpose, without self-conscious aim. Similarly, self-conscious zazen will lead to problems-self-created problems. Such problems are natural for beginners, but because they arise “naturally” is no reason to be acquiescent about them.
Zen practice is not training in the ordinary sense. Ordinary training is to improve ourselves; Zen practice is to be ourselves.
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July 31st, 2010 by admin
Rev. S. Suzuki
November 30, 1966
We should establish our practice where there is no practice or no enlightenment. As long as we practice zazen in the area where there is practice and enlightenment there is no chance to make perfect peace for ourselves. In other words we must firmly believe in our true nature. It is beyond our conscious realm…conscious experience. There is good or bad or practice or enlightenment only in our conscious experience but whether or not we have experience of it what exists actually there, exists. In this way we have to establish the foundation of our practice. To…even it is good thing to have it in your mind is not so good. You may be…it is a kind of burden for you. You do not feel so good. Even you have something good in your mind. So to have something in your conscious realm you do not feel, or you do not have, perfect composure. The best way is to forget everything. Then your mind is calm and your mind always wide enough or clear enough to see things and to feel things as they are without any effort.
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Tags: Delusion
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