You know, when your
practice is not good, you are a poor buddha [laughs]. If your practice
is good, you are good Buddha. And poor and good is also independent buddha. Poor is buddha, and you are buddha, and good is buddha, and you are
buddha too. For every word, or whatever you think, whatever you say, every word
becomes buddha. Then there is no trouble [laughs]. I am buddha. If I
say “I am buddha,” “I” is buddha, “am” is buddha, “b” is buddha, and “buddha”
is of course buddha. Buddha, buddha, buddha [laughs, laughter]. That is how you
say buddha, buddha, buddha, buddha [laughs, laughter]. There is no need to
translate it into English [laughs, laughter]. There is no need to be bothered by fancy explanation of Buddhism [laughs]. If you say
“buddha, buddha, buddha, buddha” [laughs], that is the way. That is shikantaza,
you know: everything is buddha. So sitting is buddha, lying down is buddha, and
whatever you say, you know, each word is buddha. Dogen understood in this way, so
he said, “When it is cold, you should be a cold buddha. When it is hot, you
should be a hot buddha.” -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-24 as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC
