Best Effort

Q: You speak of our existence in only an instant, but at each instant, that existence should make its best effort. And the more I think about this idea of best effort, the less I'm able to understand at all what it means. I think I've asked you this before, but maybe I'm ready to hear it again. What do you mean by making your best effort on each instant?

SR: I don't mean to sacrifice this moment for the future, and I don't mean to be bound by past life and try to escape from it. This is the kind of effort you usually make. But there's a more important point in your effort. What is it? To stand on your own two feet is the most important thing. To sacrifice this moment for your future, even for your ideal, means that you are not standing on your own two feet. So the most important thing is to accept yourself, to have subjectivity in each moment. Or, don't complain-- accept things as it is and satisfy yourself with what you have right now. You should think, this is the only reality, the only Buddha you know, the only Buddha you can see, experience, have, worship. And then if you want to do something, at that time you are Nirmanakaya Buddha and Sambhogakaya Buddha and Dharmakaya Buddha.       --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-10-00-C 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