Student V [Paul
Discoe]: Docho Roshi, if everything is time, how can there be any past or
future? And how can you get things done on time, or not have enough time to do
something? This whole idea of time leaves me very confused.
SR: Even though you're making your effort to follow the time, time is not different from what you do. What you do is actually time, whether you are in a hurry or not. There is nothing which could be called time but what you do and what you see. So time is very -- time itself is Buddha which is always with us. Whatever we do it is with us. But we human beings always try to control ourselves. When we try to control ourselves it's to feel better. And this desire is just for ourselves. Everything may have desire in its wide sense, but human desire is very dualistic. We should be in time. It is only human beings who separate reality and the idea of time. So it is human destiny to control ourselves by the idea of time, by the idea of Buddha. The Buddha existed for human beings.
Student V [Paul Discoe]: And time is necessary too-- the idea of time?
SR: Yes. -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-09-00 as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not looking for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these excerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching. - DC
SR: Even though you're making your effort to follow the time, time is not different from what you do. What you do is actually time, whether you are in a hurry or not. There is nothing which could be called time but what you do and what you see. So time is very -- time itself is Buddha which is always with us. Whatever we do it is with us. But we human beings always try to control ourselves. When we try to control ourselves it's to feel better. And this desire is just for ourselves. Everything may have desire in its wide sense, but human desire is very dualistic. We should be in time. It is only human beings who separate reality and the idea of time. So it is human destiny to control ourselves by the idea of time, by the idea of Buddha. The Buddha existed for human beings.
Student V [Paul Discoe]: And time is necessary too-- the idea of time?
SR: Yes. -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-09-00 as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not looking for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these excerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching. - DC
