Some may say, “Whatever we do is Buddha Nature, so it doesn’t matter what I do.” This is a misunderstanding. Morality without Buddha Nature is just a rigid moral code in which you will be enslaved. But if you become aware of Buddha Nature, innate nature, that is freedom, that is not rigid precepts. You act by your own choice, and you act according to your true nature. So, that is complete freedom. And that is also morality.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-22 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.
