Friday, June 23, 2023

Mountain

Docho Roshi, big mind and small mind are equally without size. The Buddhist practice is no practice. Can it be that there is any practice which is not Buddhist practice?

When you are involved in dualistic ideas in your practice, that is non-Buddhist practice. That there is no alternative way for us means to sit alone on top of the mountain. Whatever happens in the mountain, that is part of your practice. To sit on the mountain means to be a boss of the mountain. That is our practice. But to try to climb up to the top of the mountain is not our practice. So, you can say various practices are nothing but Buddhist practice because we are boss of the mountain. But for the people who are trying to climb up to the top of the mountain, there may be various ways to the mountain. So, we must not forget that we are sitting in the center of the universe or on top of the mountain.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-04-23-B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.