Next Tuesday we will have no lecture, so this will be the last one for this year. At the end of the year we clean up our house and we throw out old things which we do not use anymore. And we renew our equipment, even renew furniture. And after cleaning our room we we put in the new. We take off old mats and put out new ones. In the temple we have a prayer to control fire. [Suzuki shows the calligraphy scroll] “Taking care of fire,” it says in Japanese. --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-12-29 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. - D
Fire is always a threat to Japanese temples constructed of wood with candles and incense burning inside. But after New Years there are fires to burn the old and bring in the new so New Year's is a good time bring up fire safety. - dc
Suzuki gave this scroll to Grahame Petchey. His wife Hideko donated it to the SFZC.
cuke page for this calligraphy