Without being strict with ourselves, we cannot do anything because that will be the wrong practice. So, first of all we should reflect on our practice. And before we say something, we should reflect on ourselves. This is a very, very important point. You should not rely on some teaching, but you should reflect on yourself, and polish yourself, and get rid of selfish ideas as much as you can, even if you have attained a wonderful enlightenment. If you forget to polish yourself, that enlightenment will not work. That is not real enlightenment. |
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—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 69-04-08 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version. |