You may think you don’t know if you can keep a precept. Saying “I will keep it” is not so conscientious, you may say. When you take precepts in that way, you are not receiving precepts in their true sense as Buddha expected. Why don’t you say, “Yes, I will do it.” [Hits table several times.] That is what Buddha wanted you to say. That’s all. And whether you can keep them, in the next moment or next day, is not the point.
Photo by Donn DeAngelo
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 69-04-29 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
