In Japan, Buddhists receive precepts—we say jukai—and everyone says, “I will keep it.” [Laughs.] When I was young, I thought this was nonsense. [Laughs.] How could they keep precepts? When they went home, they would eat eggs, meat—even rice is a living being. They are killing everything as long as they live. How is it possible to say, “I will keep it. I will not kill”? But later, I was struck by them saying, “I will keep it.” I thought, “Oh, that is the way to keep precepts.”
Suzuki is between first and seconds rows from the front.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 69-04-29 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
