Abiding

 I asked Bill Shurtleff if there was anything he'd like to add to what we've already got on him on his Cuke page. He didn't want to do a podcast so I told him I'd just read stuff about and from him like I did for Les Kaye and do for the departed like Yvonne Rand and Della Goertz whose podcast just went up on Saturday. He sent this:

I'd like to include a quotation from Suzuki Roshi - found in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.

Transiency: 

"The basic teaching of Buddhism is the teaching of transiency or
change. That everything changes is the basic truth for each existence.
No one can deny this truth and all teaching of Buddhism is condensed
within it. This is the teaching for all of us. Wherever we go this
teaching is true.
  "This teaching is also understood as the teaching of selflessness.
Because each existence is in constant change, there is no abiding self.
In fact, the self-nature of each existence is nothing but change itself
- the self-nature of all existence. There is no special, separate,
self-nature for each existence."

To think, I did this or I wrote this is our habitual way, but I think completely misses the point.

Bill

I sent him this back:

An excellent choice and most central to both Buddhism and Suzuki Roshi's teaching of Buddhism.

Look how close that is to the earliest pre-ZMBM version we have of that lecture. Likely Marian Derby's transcription off the tape.

September 16, 1965
Thursday Morning Lectures
Los Altos

"The basic teaching of Buddhism is the teaching of transcendence or change. Everything changes is the basic teaching. And this truth is eternal truth for each existence. And no one can deny this truth. And all the teaching of Buddhism will be condensed in this teaching. This is the teaching for all of us and wherever we go this teaching is true. This teaching is also interpreted as the teaching of selflessness because our self nature of each existence is nothing but the self nature of all existence. There is no special self nature for each existence."

They threw in that line, "there is no abiding self." Suzuki Roshi never used that word - except once when reading it in a text.

Take care.

David

Noticing that "abiding self" addition makes me want to see a comparison of the edited book to the original transcripts. The Russian translators did that and some of the results of their detailed inquiry can be found at http://www.cuke.com/zmbm/remarks-victor-s.htm#talk-book. 

Recent errata from ZMBM - since 2010