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Friday, July 4, 2025

Zen and Precepts Is One

You have freedom. You are not enslaved by Buddha Nature, by a moral code. And a moral code is not always the same. It is not permanent. Strictly speaking, there is a moral code whatever you do. So, we say, Zen and precepts is one. In everyday life we call it precepts, and in practice of zazen we call it Zen. So, Zen and everyday life should be the self-use of our true nature. In this sense, precepts and Zen are not different. This is a very important point.

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.