‘And I think we should not try to propagate Zen in America, you know. That is not Dogen Zenji’s way. One by one is enough. If we have, you know, good understanding between your friend, that is enough. If you love someone, you know, you should try to make him understand you. That’s all.’ (from the Suzuki Roshi archives)
On December 4th, the fiftieth anniversary of Suzuki Roshi’s death, I was looking for a quote to use on Instagram, and came across this one – which has turned into my most popular post (though I can never be sure if the quote or the photo is responsible for the number of likes a post gets). I expect I shall be using it in my talk this evening as well, as part of my ongoing question about how to teach in these times. It echoes yesterday’s quote in some ways, and comes from a talk just a couple of months earlier in that same summer.
Shundo David Haye 