If

You may say if you get a lot of money, you will be happy, but it is not true. Or, if I try hard, I will attain enlightenment; that is not true [laughs]. In its true sense enlightenment is quite a different quality from ignorance. It is a pair of opposites. Because opposites, it has value. If it were possible to join enlightenment and ignorance, you could strive to attain enlightenment in a materialistic way, with money or by sitting many, many years [laughs, laughter]. You could try. But I don’t think it is possible because they are two completely different qualities.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-08-17N as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.

Different

Why do we have suffering? Because we have happiness or joy on the other hand. Why we have happiness is because we have difficulties. And you cannot join happiness to difficulties. They are completely different qualities. When we feel, as long as we are conscious, it is impossible to join unhappiness and happiness. They are essentially different qualities of consciousness.

Painting by Arthur Okamura

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-08-17N as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.

Wisdom

Buddha did not suffer from difficulties with a dualistic or one-sided idea. He was called Buddha because he had wisdom. His wisdom solved the contradictions of life. We human beings are by nature good and bad, half and half.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-08-17N as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.

Featured Cuke Archives page

Podcast - The Heart Sutra - Eiheiji monks chant the Heart Sutra. Shunryu Suzuki's basic meaning of the kanji from the Sokoji chant card. I play it for a bed-ridden Japanese man raised Soto-shu in a retirement home. Read more about it here.

Strived

There’s no Buddha, we say. We say that because there is no natural Buddha. Buddha is someone who strived—strived faithfully through difficulties.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-08-17N as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.

Breakthrough

When we find real joy of life in pain and in difficulty, that is true joy, according to Buddhism. We say, there is no natural Buddha. Buddha is someone who attained enlightenment with a human body, who has a breakthrough of human life, and who found eternal joy in human life—in immortal life.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-08-17N as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.

Three Points

So, characteristic of Buddhist understanding of causality is: one way it is mechanical, and we do not ignore freedom. On the other hand, it is teleological, and we do not believe in any perfection. Believing in perfection, this is also a mistake. So, we should be free from those three mistakes: to have an idea of perfection as a human being, just to be bound by causality, and just trying to ignore the theory of cause and effect. These three points, at least as far as I know, should be understood in order to understand causality in its true sense.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-08-17N as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.

On and On and On

People have a misunderstanding. They think we human beings can attain some goal. But for human beings and for all the rest of existence there is no limit to achieving things. Things will go on and on and on. We don’t know when it will end. It should go on and on and on.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-08-17N as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.

Dynamic Change

You have some purpose, some goal, and you have some way to attain that goal. If it is true, it is actually a dynamic changing life. When we follow that dynamic change of every being, our goal will be attained. But if we ignore that dynamic change of the universe, even though we have a plan in mind, it will not work. So, if your plan is right, to have some goal in your life means to follow the dynamic change of the world. In this way, our life will go on and on and on endlessly. This is right understanding.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-08-17N as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.

Continuous and Discontinuous

Time is, as I always say, time is continuous and discontinuous. Time is not always continuous. Time is discontinuous. Time stops, you know. If it is going, you cannot say, "this is six o’clock or eight o’clock." When you say eight o'clock, it is eight o'clock; it is not a future nine o'clock. It is eight o'clock. So, when you say “eight o'clock,” time stops, tentatively. But actually, it is going on—we have to know that actually time is going on and on, but we have to say, tentatively “it is nine o'clock” or “seven o'clock.” From this understanding, time is some point on a straight line from past to future. But actually, time is going and going on and on, so there is no point to point at. It is going on; the only way you have it is to follow a clock or sunshine. That is the only way we form the idea of time. So, when you have an idea of time, it means you have an idea of continuity and discontinuity.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-08-17N as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.