Wednesday, September 2, 2026

Rules Are the Expression of the Relationship

Within our relationships between man and man, or man and woman, or man and nature, there are rules based on the intimate relationships. However, in observing rules, there is no trace of a rule. Even though there are rules, there is no need to be caught by them because they are the expression of the intimate relationship. It is not necessary to set up something because of some unharmonious relationship. Rules are the expression of the relationship.

cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-01-21-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.