February 1964
Saturday, February 1st, 1964MODEL SUBJECT NO. 46
FROM BLUE CLIFF RECORDS
Commentary by Reverend Shunryū Suzuki
Master, Zen Center
February 1964
Attention! Kyo-sei asked a monk, “What is the sound outside the door?” The monk said, “It is the sound of raindrops.” Kyo-sei said, “All sentient beings are deluded by the idea of self and by the idea of the world as subjective or objective (as permanent).
Commentary:
Kyo-sei has seen through the monk, who thinks he is not caught by the “objective” sound of the raindrops, but he who actually is caught by the sound of raindrops in his subjective world.
The monk said, “How about yourself?” (In other words, “I have the raindrops in my clear mind. How about you?”) Kyo-sei said, “People may say I am not deluded by myself or by the raindrops.” (Original text says: “I am almost not deluded myself.”)