Once Yakusan, the famous Zen master in China,
was asked to give a lecture. “It is so long since you gave a lecture,
so please give some lecture after sesshin.” [Laughing.] He came up to the altar
and came down, and went to his room without saying anything. So for him, one
minute is enough. For me, it takes twenty minutes [laughter].
But his jisha asked him, after he went back to his room, “Why didn't you give
a lecture, some words?” And he said, “I am a Zen master, so I will not say anything. If you want to study Zen, you
should listen to some Buddhist philosopher, then he
will explain it in detail [laughs, laughter]. I am a Zen master, so to practice
with you is my motto. For me there is no need to speak, and for my
students there is no need to receive any lecture.” --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 69-04-19 - 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. Got to https://www.instagram.com/cuke_archives/ for more daily Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.
