August 21st, 1971
Saturday, August 21st, 1971Shunryū Suzuki-rōshi
Saturday, August 21, 1971
San Francisco
Listen to this talk: Suzuki-roshi 71-08-21
Excuse me. [Laughs.] I feel rather stiff. Maybe I worked too hard.
Since we have Tassajara and the city zendō, we are—our practice is rather concentrated on city practice or Tassajara practice. But the most important point is to know what is Zen practice, which is not only city practice, but also Tassajara practice, and city zendō practice. Wherever you are, we have Zen way of practice. No matter where you are, you must have proper understanding of our practice.
In Shōbōgenzō “Genjo-kōan,” Dōgen-zenji says, referring to this point:
“When all things are Buddhism, there are birth and death—there are defilement, practice, birth and death, buddhas, and sentient beings. When all things has no self, there is no delusion, no buddha, no sentient beings, no birth, no death. Buddhism originally is beyond the all positive or neg- [partial word]—positivity or negativity, so there are birth and death, defilement and enlightenment, and sentient beings and buddha.”