Big Mind Recites Sutras

That is why we say you should not recite sutras. Your true nature should recite sutras. Big mind recites, not small mind—small self should not recite sutras. The self which is universal to everyone should recite sutras with people. When I talk like this, there is already some duality. Small self or big self. But actually, small self does not exist. That which exists is big self only. We just create small self, and we say it is right [laughs]. But it is not right. So first of all, we should be emancipated from the idea of small self.

Photo montage by Donn Deangelo

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-28-D 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.