It is not so easy to arise bodhisattva mind. It is not so easy at all. It is difficult because you do not have the right teacher or because you do not know exactly how to arise bodhisattva mind. The answer is very simple, but I think it is good for you to suffer [laughter, laughs] on this point, or else your practice will be very superficial. Of course, you may say trying to save others is bodhisattva practice, but if some impure element is in it, you cannot have confidence in your practice. I know many students who have this kind of conflict or problem.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 70-08-03 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.
