Wonderful Fish

Student: How long does it take?

Suzuki: Nooo, it doesn’t take any time [laughter]. You are there. Fish is there, right there. Buddhism is two-handed. You can ignore the truth, but it is right here. This fish has immense value. You cannot measure its value. You don’t know whether it is big or small. How many fish are there? One, two, three. Each one has his own fish, and each fish is the same. It’s wonderful.

Image from wikimedia.org

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Sky Is Mind

When you say “mind,” there is no material. When you say “material,” there is no mind. Before you see fish, watch the water. When you watch the water, there is fish, not water. For science it’s water, but for me it is fish [laughter]. For the scientific mind it’s oxygen plus two hydrogen. But for me it is not water, it is fish, and I’m involved in it, and I am swimming in the water. In this way we are flying through the sky. All the sky is mind. This understanding is very subtle and wonderful. All the sky is my home. If you say it is too wide, that is your problem. If you say that’s wonderful, that is your pleasure of life.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Problems

For science mind is an object of study. But for us it is most concerning [laughs]. We are talking about each one’s mind. I am talking about my mind, and you are listening to your mind, not someone else’s mind. If so, that mind includes all the problems you have. Without mind, there is no problem [laughs]. Without “you,” there is no problem. Because there is “you,” you have problems. Because you have mind, small or big, I don’t know [laughs]. Anyway, because you have your mind, there are problems.

Drawing by Stan White

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Religious Mind

“Everything is mind,” we take this viewpoint. We are concerned about each individual’s attainment or nirvana or happiness which should be for each one of us. We do not talk about mind in just a scientific way. We mean my mind, your mind, or someone’s mind who is concerned about his own life. If so, mind includes various problems we see, or feel involved in. For us, mind is our hand, our room, our family, our country because our minds are concerned with people, with family, with our body. So, in this sense mind and body is one—in a religious sense.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Featured Cuke Archives page

David reading from Zen Is Right Here: Teaching Stories and Anecdotes of Shunryu Suzuki

https://cuke.com/f

Mind and Body

When you say “mind,” of course you have ideas of mind and body, or big mind and small mind. So there are various meanings. We mean many things by mind. But this was a big problem for us. It has been and still is a big problem. What is mind and what is our body? Materialistic or duality, or mind and body are the same. But in Buddhism, mind and body are two faces of one reality.

Beginner's Mind Calligraphy by Shunryu Suzuki

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

To Understand the Full Meaning

Kanjizai [the first words of the Heart Sutra]. Jizai is “free”: freedom without any disturbance and without any form or color. Kan is not to observe form or color, but to understand the full meaning of the color—through color and form to understand its true meaning. Kan does not mean a scientific viewpoint—understanding from our sense organs or by philosophical effort. To penetrate into the true meaning, that is kan. When the kan is fully functional, the function is jizai, free, without any disturbance.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Transmission

Dharma is not just the written scripture. It is transmission. will be handed down from warm hand to warm hand, from body to body, from person to person. That is transmission. That is dharma, or cover [laughs]. You may say, “I don’t want a cover.” [Laughs.] “If I have a pan and food, that’s enough.” For awhile it is so, but it will get stale. It will go bad quite soon if you have no cover for it.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Not Little Mind

Little mind. When you think it is little mind, that is little mind. When you understand your mind is not little mind, that is big mind. So, mind is the same. And when you think something is good or bad, it is already discrimination of small mind.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Physical Action

To express our spirit or way, it is necessary to express it through action, through our bodies. Our physical action is very important. Actually, when you are trained, your demeanor will be different. Your conduct will be refined. Without a well-trained body, it is impossible to express the truth and help others.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.