February 27th, 1971
Saturday, February 27th, 1971Shunryū Suzuki-rōshi
Saturday Morning, February 27, 1971
San Francisco
Listen to this talk: Suzuki-roshi 71-02-27
The purpose of our practice is, of course, to maybe to have full enlightenment. Why we cannot have enlightenment is because of our, you know, delusion or mumyō,[1] we say. Or—because we are not—we don’t have clear picture of this world, or we do not have eyes to see, you know, clearly, to see clearly, or to have clear understanding of this world. That is, you know, so-called-it called mumyō. Mumyō is delusion. Mu is “no.” Myō is “clear.” “No clear light.”
We are—maybe we are—we Buddhist or we student or someone, you know, who do not have clear eyes to see, you know, what is the true way—which way to go [laughs]. So naturally you are wondering about, you know, to find out some truth, or to have—because you are wondering about, so you want to have some clear map, you know, which way to go. And that is why you must have teacher who, you know, give you some map or some instruction or which way to go.
Even though you have map, if you have a map or, you know, and you have teacher, there is still, you know, difficulty in your practice. The difficulty may be, you know, you have no—if you have—if you—as long as you trust your teacher, you know, you don’t have to worry about the way, you know, you take. But because you have, you know, no worry, you know, you, you know, you are liable to, you know, to see something else, you know, because you have—you don’t have to, you know, try to find out which way you should take. So you just follow [laughs] your teacher. When he goes fast, you go fast, and when he goes slow, you go slow.