Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘So there is no need for us to be famous or to be useful. First of all, we should be– each one should be he himself. Then we will find our world very convenient. If we try to be the most famous, and most useful, and most powerful, everyone will lose the true meaning of our existence. So we say, “When you become yourself, Zen become Zen.” When you become you [laughs]– when bamboo is bamboo, that is Zen. When a tree is a tree, that is Zen. If so, we have to realize our inmost nature as a being, or inmost request of ourselves. Inmost request works for every existence in the same way, but as each existence [is] different from the other existence, even though the inmost request is the univer- — is universal, the way of expression should be different.’ (from the Suzuki Roshi Archive)