Zesho Susan O'Connell was ordained and given transmission by Reb Anderson. She was VP and president of the San Francisco Zen Center for ten years. She came up with the idea of the Enso Village retirement community and made it a reality. Listen to our podcast and learn more about her - http://cuke.com/f
We should understand ourselves in two ways: as a person and as something which has no name or body or mind. To understand ourselves in this way is liberation from self. And true understanding of ourselves when we say “things as it is,” means to understand ourselves from the viewpoint of being and non-being. That is how we understand ourselves. That is how we should exist as a human being in this world, or else we will be lost. Most people live as someone who is known to each other, but we lose the other point. That is why this world is so busy and noisy. When we understand our world in this way, with calmness of mind, we will have compassionate mind for people who are just involved in a one-sided view. Our practice should be concentrated on this point by doing trivial, near-at-hand 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.
Join Jerry Brown in a discussion with John Tarrant, Jon Joseph, and David Weinstein in the next Zen Luminaries podcast in which they talk about his public life and Zen practice.
Saving the Earth, Helping the People: a Political and Spiritual Journey
Monday, April 29th - 6pm - 7:30pm
Bodhidharma said, “I don't know.” [Repeated from yesterday's post]
Bodhidharma in his answer appeared to be someone who is just sitting without thinking, without doing anything, being with everything—without form, without color. He revealed himself in that way for the emperor. But the emperor wanted to know someone who was wise, who was powerful, who was learned, who was very helpful. So this question and answer was not so successful.
Sumi painting by Michael Hofmann
—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.
Butei, the Emperor of Liang, asked Bodhidharma, “What is the first principle?”
Buddha [Bodhidharma] said, “Who is it in front of you? There is no holy person or common person.”
And the Emperor said, “Who are you in front of me?”
Bodhidharma said, “I don’t know.”
Sumi painting by Michael Hofmann
—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.
Tim Buckley: [Silence.]
SR: [Silence.]
—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.
Bill Shurtleff: Docho Roshi, the sound of the water in the stream seems to wash away all of the questions that I had. The questions still come, but they seem to flow away. Trying to hold a question and to give it a form keeps me from hearing your words this morning and from hearing the sound of the stream. It feels strange for me to be without a question, and so I’d just like to thank you for your wisdom, and for your kindness in being here with us today.
SR: Yeah. People take and listen, and talk. In this way, everything is going. Like an electric lamp, the current is always going back and forth. It looks like it’s very certain, but it is not. Actually it is not as we see it. So, the moment we appear, we vanish. We still practice always. That is our life. That is how everything exists, and that is how Sambhogakaya Buddha exists. So, when we understand our life in that way, there is no problem at all.
—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.
Alan Rappaport: Docho Roshi, I am very afraid a lot of the time. I think I’m afraid of being hurt, and then lost. Can you help me?
SR: Lost? No, that is not possible. You are here, and there is no need to be afraid because anyway you are changing. If you are afraid of always changing, maybe that is why you are afraid. But if you are changing always, why don’t you try to change for the better? As long as you are making that effort, there’s no need to be afraid of anything. Even a little bit of change for the better will work.
—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.
Gil Fronsdal is the senior guiding co-teacher at the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) in Redwood City, California and the Insight Retreat Center in Santa Cruz, California. He started Buddhist practice in 1975 at the San Francisco Zen Center, and has been teaching for IMC since 1990. Listen to our podcast and learn more about him - http://cuke.com/f
Stan White: Docho Roshi, the only words I have this morning are not words.
SR: Yeah. We are discussing what is not possible to discuss by words. So, this is how actual words should go. By words we should communicate something which is not possible to limit by our words.
—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.