And if you sit, you know, balcony without much help [laughs], you may easily give up to practice. “Maybe better not. It is not possible,” or “It may be foolish to practice under these circumstances [laughs]. You may easily give up. But in such case, you should try hard. If you are very sleepy you may say, “Oh, maybe better not to practice zazen. Maybe better to rest.” Yeah, sometime it is better, but at the same time, that may a good chance to practice. --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 69-03-15 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not looking for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these excerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching.
DC comment: At Sokoji the balcony was a place to sit zazen for people who came late or overflow. Sometimes people would sit there intentionally. If a new student did that, he noticed that they didn't feel the support of the group that we got all sitting together in the zendo and could get discouraged. So when one feels alone and discouraged one should make an effort to persevere,
