Some people may explain what zazen is in a philosophical way. Some try to express our zazen in literature, or painting, or a scientific way, without knowing that that is their own dragon, not a real one [laughs]. That is all right, but we should know that there must be a way to whip the cart. Or we should know that there is a true dragon which has no form and no color, which is called nothingness or emptiness, and which includes koan practice, and so-called shikantaza, and various Hinayana ways of practice, and pre-Buddhistic practice. This is the practice transmitted from Buddha to us.
Print by Arthur Okamura offered in 1973 Wind Bell
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-10-12-B as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
