July 28th, 1969
Monday, July 28th, 1969Shunryū Suzuki-rōshi
Monday, July 28, 1969
Tassajara
Listen to this talk: Suzuki-roshi 69-07-28
[1]… mind. That is the purpose of counting. Not just count, you know.
Student A: But, like, in daily life, are we to count when we are walking, or would you just walk?
Suzuki-rōshi: In daily life if you walk as a practice of Zen, you know, you, you know, you steady [steadily] walk step-by-step like you count your breathing. Hai.
Student B: Rōshi, I found in the past three months at Tassajara that I’ve uncovered tremendous anger in myself from time to time—
Suzuki-rōshi:: Uh-huh.
Student B: —with no fixed object, just great force of anger.
Suzuki-rōshi: Uh-huh.
Student B: Can you tell me what the root of that is and how to deal with it—that anger?
Suzuki-rōshi: Maybe your confidence is not strong enough. That is why you become angry. You see, you have, you know—I think most people, you know, try to solve psychological—special conditions by psychology, you know, by knowing why, you know, and by knowing how to treat it, you know, like a mother treat their children, you know. But our way is a little bit different from that. Actually, you know, for an instance, I am very impatient, you know. But sometime I sh- [partial word]—I may—I shall be most patient person. Why is it? [Laughs] Same person, you know, sometime became—become very patient, and sometime very impatient. When I think I should not be angry, I am never angry. [Laughs.]