Pat Lang (Tara Treasurefield): Docho Roshi, could you explain what it means to be a serious Zen student?
SR: Serious student Zen Buddhism. Don’t try to be serious [laughter, laughs]. Just keep up with our practice. Don’t try to get up earlier than other people. Stay in bed. Okay?
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-11-11 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
Pat Herreshoff: Docho Roshi, I do not understand the meaning of my life. We have been given to understand that meaning is eternal. Is it possible for me to relate eternal meaning to this transient body?
SR: Yes it is possible, and eternal meaning is actually in your everyday life. So there is no need to figure out the meaning of life—especially for you. What you are doing is very good, so don’t try to figure out the meaning of your life. To me your life is meaningful, but I don’t know right now if it is meaningful for you. But however your life is meaningful, very meaningful, and that you are struggling with it is also meaningful. Don’t lose another aspect of your life. Don’t stick to one aspect only.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-11-11 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
DC: Docho Roshi, I am so grateful to you and Tassajara and Zen Center that I'd like to study Zen. What should I do first?
SR: You should do something in the right time in the right way. Try to keep up with our practice.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-11-11 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
Ned Hoke was on Esalen Institute staff when Shunryu Suzuki led a two-day workshop there in 1968. After that, Ned came to Tassajara in the summers as a student. Learn more about him from his Cuke page and listen to his podcast - http://cuke.com/f.
Jack Elias: Docho Roshi, there are many questions about how hard and how long. The stream outside Tassajara has been flowing a long time. I wish to ask it now how long and how hard must it flow? Listen.
SR: If you notice that point, that is Buddha’s sermon.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-11-11 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
Rick Norton: Docho Roshi, how may this Lotus Sutra be used to gain salvation?
SR: We don’t know how. Still the salvation is going. It may go forever.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-11-11 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
Doug Bradle: Docho Roshi, there you sit resolute in your serenity, and here am I miserable and quivering in my confusion. And as I try to think of a question for you, I just become hopelessly tangled up in my own thoughts. And then, just now I thought, well, you probably had to go through the same thing at one time too. And you probably had to try and think of a question for your master. And what did you do? Did you become hopelessly confused like me, or did you find some way out?
SR: You say you don’t know what to do. If there is no one to ask about the confusion, then what is the confusion? The confusion itself is already the meaning of life, your own experience which you have to get through. So to ask a question is a kind of communication—mutual understanding. It means to extend your experience. So, you should accept the confusion as your experience of life. To be in confusion means to be amid the boundless mercy of the Buddha. We should accept in that way. And we should lead our life in this way.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-11-11 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
Jeff Sherman: Docho Roshi, very often I feel your compassion. I don’t understand emptiness. I was wondering where compassion is in emptiness.
SR: Compassion will always be on some phenomenal world, which causes our attachment. Originally everything is empty. That is how our compassion arises. So compassion and somethingness and emptiness have the same quality. When we understand emptiness, we become compassionate toward something which exists in material or spiritual terms. So emptiness is not different from compassion. It is the source of compassion.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-11-11 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
Jeff Williamson: Docho Roshi, ... And I really do not understand what you mean when you say, “Put forth your very best effort, but be careful that you do not try too hard.” I do not know where to draw a line. I don't know when I'm doing one thing and when I'm doing the other. Could you please say something that would help me now?
SR: “Try your best effort” means not to lose your way. Always keep up with your practice. That is what I mean. Of course, zazen practice is difficult because we should reject the two extremes. While you are keeping up your everyday practice, you will find out how to reject the two extremes. So when you become frustrated, when you have a problem, when you are discouraged, at that time you should try your best effort to resume your own practice.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-11-11 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
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Claude Dalenberg: Docho Roshi, incessant change and evanescence everywhere. Life is so short. What is the most important thing to do?
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-11-11 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version. |
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