To Work Inward

The power which you will obtain by true practice is the mind of hara we need. Here again, it is necessary to switch over your usual way of understanding to an opposite way of understanding. Without working toward the outside, to work inward without trying to achieve anything—to forget—to stop our mind which is working always outward. This is the most important point in Zen.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-12-04-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.

Beyond Dualistic Mind

There have been many misunderstandings about the power of hara. The power of hara is not to be some supernatural power. The power of hara is not something of which you can be proud or which you can obtain by hard practice or through dualistic effort. This mind is beyond our dualistic mind, so you cannot explain what it is by words. It is the mind which would be understood before you explain about it. This kind of mind is true mind.

Richard Baker and Shunryu Suzuki at Tassajara - 1967

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-12-04-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.

Zen Mind

So, the mind we will obtain by our practice is something which is very subtle and at the same time it is very great. This kind of mind is Zen mind.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-12-04-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.