Butei, the Emperor of Liang, asked Bodhidharma, “What is the first principle?”
Buddha [Bodhidharma] said, “Who is it in front of you? There is no holy person or common person.”
And the Emperor said, “Who are you in front of me?”
Bodhidharma said, “I don’t know.”
Sumi painting by Michael Hofmann
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-11-11 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
Tim Buckley: [Silence.]
SR: [Silence.]
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-11-11 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
Bill Shurtleff: Docho Roshi, the sound of the water in the stream seems to wash away all of the questions that I had. The questions still come, but they seem to flow away. Trying to hold a question and to give it a form keeps me from hearing your words this morning and from hearing the sound of the stream. It feels strange for me to be without a question, and so I’d just like to thank you for your wisdom, and for your kindness in being here with us today.
SR: Yeah. People take and listen, and talk. In this way, everything is going. Like an electric lamp, the current is always going back and forth. It looks like it’s very certain, but it is not. Actually it is not as we see it. So, the moment we appear, we vanish. We still practice always. That is our life. That is how everything exists, and that is how Sambhogakaya Buddha exists. So, when we understand our life in that way, there is no problem at all.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-11-11 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
Alan Rappaport: Docho Roshi, I am very afraid a lot of the time. I think I’m afraid of being hurt, and then lost. Can you help me?
SR: Lost? No, that is not possible. You are here, and there is no need to be afraid because anyway you are changing. If you are afraid of always changing, maybe that is why you are afraid. But if you are changing always, why don’t you try to change for the better? As long as you are making that effort, there’s no need to be afraid of anything. Even a little bit of change for the better will work.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-11-11 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
Gil Fronsdal is the senior guiding co-teacher at the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) in Redwood City, California and the Insight Retreat Center in Santa Cruz, California. He started Buddhist practice in 1975 at the San Francisco Zen Center, and has been teaching for IMC since 1990. Listen to our podcast and learn more about him - http://cuke.com/f
Stan White: Docho Roshi, the only words I have this morning are not words.
SR: Yeah. We are discussing what is not possible to discuss by words. So, this is how actual words should go. By words we should communicate something which is not possible to limit by our words.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-11-11 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
Jack Weller: Docho Roshi, I am troubled by your saying that you don’t trust us.
SR: [Laughs.] Yeah. I want to encourage you to stick to something, not in terms of good or bad, but anyway [laughs]. Like water sticks to a lower place. Without that kind of spirit, until we can see that kind of practice in some other person, we cannot trust anyone.
Jack: Then we can trust them, right?
SR: [Laughs.] Yeah.
Jack: So we can trust you.
SR: [Laughing.] Ho!
Jack: But you cannot trust us.
SR: Yeah, maybe. I am trying always to stick to something, not because it is good or bad—whether it is good or bad. When you stick to one thing only, it may be sometimes understood as something good. Sometimes it may be understood as something which is bad. But whether it is good or bad, is not the question. If it is helpful to me and for others, we should stick to one practice.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-11-11 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
E. L. Hazelwood: Docho Roshi, I have a question, but I can’t see it. And so I can’t grasp it. And so I don’t know what it is. And so I don’t know how to ask it.
SR: Yeah. The basic problem is the same for everyone. Anyway, as long as you are here, don’t be too much concerned about yourself, or what you do, or what others do. Just observe Tassajara as one person who has every part of a body—hands, legs, head, ears, eyes. And let it work without much mistake. If you try to practice everyday practice our way with this idea, then there is salvation for each one of us.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-11-11 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
Jeff Broadbent: Docho Roshi, why do I feel hatred, repugnance, and disgust?
SR: Maybe because you want to solve every problem in a limited sense and by a limited way. You should wait. You should do one by one. Then there is no hatred or no bad feeling....Just to do something in time. To keep up with others’ practice. That is the main point. And don’t discriminate in your work too much within your limited time and material or space. You should do your best. Whether it is good or bad, no one knows [laughs].
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-11-11 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
Niels: Will you please tell me why I judge myself and others as good and bad students?
SR: You are a good student. There is no need to compare you to someone else. You have your own good quality which no one else has. So, you are independent. And when you become you yourself, you will be with all your friends.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-11-11 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.