When we read Buddhist scriptures, it is necessary for us to know at what kind of historical stage each sutra was told—to know, in other words, who spoke the scripture. For instance, when Westerners started to study Buddhist scriptures, they thought they were a kind of myth. That may be so, a kind of myth. If someone studies a scripture literally, without knowing what kind of background the scripture has, and if someone has compiled the scripture in a very emotional way, the description will be very mysterious.... But we should know with what feeling, and what kind of attitude, this scripture was presented, or else we will not understand what it is.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-10-21 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.