When you expect something, you already have suffering because actually things don’t go as you expect. So, there is suffering already. Even when you are ill, for instance, if you do not try too much to get well, it is pretty good. It is not so bad. But if you try to get well too much, that is suffering. So, when you are ill, you should accept it. “Oh, I am not so well [laughs]. Maybe someday I shall be all right.” Then you don’t have much suffering.
Shunryu Suzuki at last public event. L to R: Ed Brown, Shunryu Suzuki, Hoitsu Suzuki.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 69-03-15 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.