Arranging

So we should not arrange teaching horizontal or vertical. We should realize the meaning of the teachings, one by one, without arranging. So this is not only the Zen way but also Tendai's way. So-called middle way in Tendai is a way to accept teaching one by one without arranging it. That is the middle way.  --------------------------------------------------  Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC

Willem Malten shares

Two Tassajara Stories

Willem Malten cuke page

Other Things

Although everything is changing, moment after moment it will change, but everything at that moment, the smallest particle of time, exists in that form or color with close, close relationship with other things. That is true.  --------------------------------------------------  Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC

Carl Bielefeldt on Mts & Rivers Sutra

which Carl calls the Mountains and Waters Sutra. Previously posted his 1999 talk at Tassajara on this fascicle of Dogen's Shobogenzo. Went over it to see what could be included in Tassajara Stories and came up with an abridged version and two entries in Brief Memories. Check it all out.


Got this image from a 2008 ad on a talk by Gary Snyder on his great poem, Mountains and Rivers without End, which also enters into Carl's talk.

Nothing exists

If everything is changing, nothing exists, nothing special exists. This is true, but in the smallest particle of time, everything exists. --------------------------------------------------  Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC

The Most Important Point: Zen Teachings of Edward Espe Brown

“‘The most important point is to find out what is the most important point.’ After a lifetime of practice inspired by his teacher, Suzuki Roshi, Ed Brown reveals that the most important point is love and acceptance. And in these pages we learn how to apply this lesson right into the middle of our lives. More than a book on Zen, this is a book on living and learning how to live amid life’s many challenges.”

Publisher’s Weekly review

Amazon link

Danny Parker spent five years putting this book together and is listed as a co-author and editor

available  April 2, 2019

Edward Brown cuke page

Deity

Belief in some permanent one deity is based on the idea of existence. Even though you say “spiritual life,” that is not spiritual life. It is another form of material life. --------------------------------------------------  Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. 

Materialistic

Even people who are not satisfied with materialistic way of life, as long as their view of life is based on some substantial viewpoint of existence, they cannot get out of materialistic way of life. --------------------------------------------------  Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC

Universality and Wisdom

Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. Samanta is “universal, universality.” And bhadra means “wisdom” or “validity”-- more solid and concrete idea. Anyway, his name is Samantabhadra, universality and sagacity. So this bodhisattva is bodhisattva of all the dharma, all the universal teaching. --------------------------------------------------  Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC

Non Thinking

We say “think non-thinking.” So you may say that is to obtain something which you cannot obtain. Anyway, what you will have through zazen is more than what you think you have acquired. This kind of acquisition cannot be attained by experience or thinking. --------------------------------------------------  Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC