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Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Good Memory

It is important to have a good memory and to be able to go into every detail of activities so that effective decisions can be made. Yet one's mind cannot respond to the coming of new objects into the consciousness if it is full of the traces of former thinking. It is useless to remember everything. There is no point in remembering things just so we can cry, be jealous, or be proud. The mind should be spotless so that everything may be observed as it is. If the mind is free from the traces of past thinking and is always clear, without tainted ideas or desires, then mind will always be calm and natural like the flowers that come out in Springtime or the red leaves that turn in the Autumn. Your mind and your nature will have the same peace.

Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 63-11-00 as found on shunryusuzuki.com from an edited lecture in an early Wind Bell -all Wind Bells and Suzuki lectures from Wind Bells.