We
understand Buddha as the ideal, as a perfect, you know, one. At the same time
we understand him as a human being. Although we have this ideal
there is no need for us to be bound by the ideal. The same thing is true with
rituals and precepts. There is no need to be bound by precepts and there is no
need to be bound by, to observe, our rituals as some formality. -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-06-29 as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC .u