Student F: Doesn’t the second principle depend on the first principle?
Suzuki: Depends on, but the way it depends on is different. Even though you extend the second principle, you cannot reach the first principle. If you add one and one and one, no matter how many ones you add, it will not reach to infinity. So, infinity, or the first principle, is something beyond the second principle. Or you may say the viewpoint is quite completely different. But if you divide the absolute one as much as possible, that is, infinity. When we understand in this way, we can say, we are a part of it. But we are not. Our understanding is not based on one or two. Our understanding is based on something absolute [laughs], which we don’t know. But we may be a part of it. When we understand in that way, we are a part of it. So, it is a kind of belief, you may say. But it is more than belief. It should be fully true, or else we cannot exist here. Big hypothesis [laughs]. Yet, there is no other way. --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-23 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com, from one of the newly discovered (2021) lecture tapes. 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. Go to https://www.instagram.com/cuke_archives/ for more daily Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo