Confidence

Before you have full confidence in yourself, you will not be certified by anyone. Even though someone says you are good, it doesn’t mean anything. So, your confidence is first. There is no other way than to be confident in yourself.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-08-28-A 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.

Full Activity

The Fifth Patriarch in Japan was rather proud of his deep understanding of Buddhism. So Keizan Zenji did not accept him [laughs] because naturally he could not see the double moon. When you forget yourself, you have full strength. But it does not mean to be lazy or to become wood or stone. You are alive, and your mind is not working. You are in full activity, but your activity is not relying on anything. That is, you know, zazen.

Fifth Chan Patriarch

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-08-28-A 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.

Proud

Drawing by Stan White

As long as you are proud of your practice, it means you are still relying on something or someone. When you rely on others—rely on your reputation—you are proud of yourself [laughs]. If you are quite independent, you are not proud of yourself or anything.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-08-28-A 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.

Your Own Effort

This kind of strength can be acquired by your own effort, not by any other’s effort. Even if I explain it one thousand times, it will not help you unless you yourself make an effort to be sure about yourself. Before you believe in yourself you cannot see the double moon. Actually, double or single doesn’t matter [laughs]. That is double moon.

Priest ordinations - January 11, 1975

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-08-28-A 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.

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Sure With Yourself

If someone says, “It is double,” I may say, “No, it is single.” [Laughter.] It doesn’t matter to me whether it is a double or single moon because I am quite sure about my eyes. When you are quite sure with yourself, when you own your eyes as your sense organ, then you can see the double moon. But as long as you are enslaved by your eyes, you cannot trust your eyes [laughs]. So, if someone says that is a double or single moon, you will wonder if you cannot trust your eyes.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-08-28-A 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.

Through Your Practice

If you want to see the double moon, you must build up your character and you must have the power to observe the double moon. In other words, through your practice you obtain the power to see the double moon. As long as you are just trying to figure out if this way of observing is right or wrong, you cannot see it. When you are quite sure about observing, you can see the double moon.

Watercolor by Damian Maynard

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-08-28-A 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.

Invisible Effort

We say, “a white bird in snow.” You cannot see a white bird in the snow, but still the bird exists. When we devote ourselves to true practice, our practice is not visible. But this invisible effort will build your character, and you will obtain the power to be a master of the surroundings. As long as you are chasing after only visible things, you will never understand the meaning of our life. This is how we devote ourselves to our way.

Image generated by ChatGPT

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-08-28-A 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.

A Painted Moon

As long as you are caught by a single moon which is always the same for everybody, you cannot see the true moon. You will be seeing a painted moon which never changes [laughs]. There is no meaning to it.

Image generated by ChatGPT

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-08-28-A 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.

Double Moon

Mutual understanding is the double moon; not the single moon, not the same moon. And the moon they see in Japan is the same moon—it is the same. But it is not the same, it is double [laughs]. I don’t know how many moons we see, but the feeling of observing the moon is the same. Even though sometimes we see the moon with sadness and sometimes with joy, the moon is the same. Here, we see the double moon. It should be double, but the moon is the same.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-08-28-A 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.