Student
C: What is that person which is not a human being?
Student
C: What is that person which is not a human being?
SR:
You lose the meaning of “human being.”
Student
C: I mean, he doesn't physically go though being
changed. But if I were to take out a revolver and put a bullet in your head,
for example, would that make me less of a human being?
SR:
Yeah. You'd be an animal.
Student
C: An animal.
SR:
An animal [laughing].
Student
C: Ah.
SR: It is true. But you cannot be an animal [laughs]. But if you can shoot me, you are an animal. There is no bottom in heaven and hell. Maybe if we cannot be a human being, we may be the worst animal [laughs]. Cats and dogs are much better than human animal. There is no bottom for us. The being working with two legs, using two hands, and thinking something-- ”good and bad, half and half” [laughs]-- thinking that will protect him as a human being, that is a big, big mistake. That is abuse of the human body, human being. He treats human being as a lowest enemy or creature. That's awful.
Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-C as found on shunryusuzuki.com - Edited by DC