The Triple Treasure

Buddha as the truth is Dharmakaya Buddha. Buddha as rewarded body is Sambhogakaya Buddha. And Buddha which takes various form to help people is Nirmanakaya Buddha.  --------------------------------------------------  Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC

Lecture on the Meal Chant

So we have here Buddha and sangha and dharma. So to recite those names actually-- if you recite those names with a deep understanding, you are practicing the Buddha's way.   --------------------------------------------------  Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture on the Meal Chant - 68-01-11B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Fancy Robes

The great teachers are doing, you know, just enough, and not too much! [Laughs]. Sometimes they wear gorgeous okesa, and beautiful hat, and long staff, beautiful sandal, and beautiful whisk.

You may think, "That is too much!" [Laughs].

Maybe too much, but why they do so is people like it, you know. [Laughter].  --------------------------------------------------  Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki question and answer- 68-00-00-B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Chronicles Project features A Brief History of Tassajara

The Chronicles Project of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche posted a nice piece on our dear little Tassajara history book. Check it out.

It's available now on Amazon new for $15.

Nyepi

It's Nyepi - can't do anything. Can't even post this but it's pre-posted so that's okay. Will return to posting tomorrow. Google it to understand.

Just Right

Our rules are just right. If you try to do more, you will be exhausted. You cannot keep up your practice for seven days and eventually you will give up. That is the result, you know?  --------------------------------------------------  Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki question and answer- 68-00-00-B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Too Hard

Student: You said that during practice, a student can do ... must be careful not to do too little or too much.

SR: [Laughs].

Student: As an example of too little, you said he might fall asleep. But what do you mean by too much? How is it possible to do too much or try too much?

SR: Too hard, you know, too hard.

Student: What would be an example...

SR: To get up, you know, too early, you know, before other students in bed, you know. To get up early and to sit – that is not good practice! --------------------------------------------------  Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki question and answer- 68-00-00-B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC [DC note: This was a lesson Suzuki learned when he was a young monk as told in Crooked Cucumber.]

Business

So, if you know how to take care of your practice, you will know how to take care your business, you know, in its true sense. Sometime businessman doesn't take care of his own business [laughs]. He take care of something quite different! You know? Beautiful girls, or bank books [laughter]. That is a problem! You know? --------------------------------------------------  Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki question and answer- 68-00-00-B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Take care.

Student: So no one should practice alone?
SR: Hmm? No. No individual, no... no... no practice just for yourself. No. To take care of zendo is practice. To take care of your own teaching is practice. We understand practice in that way. How you know how to take care of your kitchen is how you sit. Even though you sit, you have many problems, you know. Drowsiness, pain in your legs, and posture, and you have to take care of your breathing, and your posture should not be like this, you know (slumping), you should be always straight. There's many things to take care of, in your practice. We are not just sitting on cushion, you know, [laughs] sleeping. We are taking care of everything. Just you take care of your family, your wife or husband, your children. That is real practice, you know.  --------------------------------------------------  Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki question and answer- 68-00-00-B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Surrounding

Yourself, you know, will be found in your surrounding. You will be always completely absorbed in what you see - if you are not fooling yourself. If you exist here, you know, that is very true. So, so we have no individual practice, in its usual sense. Our individual practice include everything. --------------------------------------------------  Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki question and answer- 68-00-00-B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC