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Monday, May 19, 2025

Without an Idea of Self

If our life is based on an idea of self, what we do will not be successful in its true sense. You will be successful in one way, but in another you will cause some conflict. So, to work without an idea of self is very, very important. It is much more important than making a good decision. Even when you make a good decision, if that decision is based on a one-sided idea of self, what you do will create some difficulties for yourself and for others.

cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-12-11-A 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.