This is the Cuke Archives page for what’s being featured each day.
Our other two Zen sites: shunryusuzuki.com - all the transcripts, audio, film, photo archive
and ZMBM.net - for Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
New 2021: Audiobook for Crooked Cucumber & Zen Is Right Now: More Teaching Stories and Anecdotes of Shunryu Suzuki
Youtube Cuke Archives - Posts from here also appear on Facebook Cuke Archives
Core Books by and about Shunryu Suzuki -- People Index -- DC home -- DC Books
Cuke Podcasts - Instagram Cuke Archives - - Donate
For personal, environment, music, etc, go to Cuke nonZense Blog and cuke-annex
Search cuke blog 
Search Cuke.com

Monday, July 8, 2019

Esoteric

The other day, in the fireplace room, Lama Govinda talked about the Shingon understanding, the so called "Tantric" understanding not the physical Tantric, but the original Tantric, esoteric teaching of Buddhism. The reason we say "esoteric" is that true teaching is beyond understanding. Esoteric means you can't see or hear it. When you cannot see or understand it, you may say that is mystery or mystical. But that is not true understanding. There may be two kinds of things you cannot understand. One is something mystical just because you cannot see or cannot understand it. But there is another thing which you cannot understand. It is too obvious. The reality is too real to speak about. We say, "If you want to explain what water is, give him water, don't speak about it. Even though you speak about it, it is not possible to explain what water is." That kind of true experience, or reality, is not possible to talk about. In this sense, there is esoteric teaching. -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-E as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC