The most important point in helping others is to actualize the bodhisattva’s way in its true sense. You can actualize the bodhisattva way in your management of a monastery or a temple. If you actualize his way, that is also dana-Prajnaparamita. That is to help others, to give most valuable things to society. If you actualize our way in your life, that is the most valuable contribution to society. Even though you give something, if you give it in the wrong way [laughs], it will create more trouble. So just to give something is not our way. Everything will be treated in the right way in the bodhisattva way.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-28-C 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.