Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘To benefit others we have four types of wisdom: charity, tenderness, benevolence, and sympathy. These represent the desires and efforts of the Bodhisattvas. Charity stands opposed to convetousness. It is the principle of not preventing offerings though we ourselves give nothing. We need not mind how small the gift so long as the results are true. Offering even a phrase or a verse of the teaching becomes the seed of good in this world and the next. Similarly goodness arises from the gift of one cent or a single blade of grass. The teaching is the treasure, and the treasure is the teaching. Let us not covet reward but share our power with others. Supplying a ferry and building a bridge are acts of charity — nor is industry in all its form separated from it.’ (Shushogi)

We studied Suzuki Roshi’s commentary on this passage in the Monday group this week. The Shushogi itself is something of a Reader’s Digest version of the Shobogenzo, but it was available in an English translation for Suzuki Roshi to ease his students into Dogen’s way of looking at the world.

The talk itself (which I will probable excerpt from soon) was interesting in that no-one identified it as a talk given by Suzuki Roshi – the tape and box had no useful informatiion on them – and the reason is that he is reading from the text for the first part of the talk, which makes his voice sound quite different. It was only after listening further through that I realised we had been missing an original talk for all these years.