Just as the pieces of wood which make up a barrel will not work as a container unless they are held together by a hoop, so a human being should have a ring around his head—a limitation—if he is not to lose the meaning of his existence. If you are very clever and capable, you can do anything you like, and people will ask you to do many things. But if you try to accomplish many things you will accomplish nothing and only be a tool of people. If you can really help others completely in that way, it may be all right. But if you really want to help others it is better to devote yourself in a limited way.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-08-28-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.
