Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘There are not two schools. We should be gradual and sudden school. Why we are sudden school is moment after moment we have enlightenment. When you practice zazen, there is enlightenment always. So we are sudden school. But if you do not continue it, that is not right practice. So [laughing], as long as you continue it, that is gradual school. Sudden and gradual: that is our study. So there are no particular schools which are called “sudden school” or “gradual school.” This is a big mistake, but some people think in Zen there is gradual school and sudden school. Yet one attained enlightenment by training. There are many ways of understanding of Buddhism. And there are various practices in Zen, but: One attains enlightenment by training. Training is necessary. And without training, you cannot attain enlightenment. It is true that methods of study differ. Some are shallow or deep; others, sharp or dull. People say “he has a shallow understanding of Buddhism,” or “deep understanding of Buddhism.” But even if they have a deep understanding of it, if they do not practice it, it means nothing. Others, sharp or dull. “Sharp people” or “dull people,” you may say, but in our practice there are no sharp people or dull people.

When you stop your mind [laughing], who is clever and who is dull? There is no difference. Because you have wrong understanding in our practice, and remain in intellectual understanding, you think sharp ones will attain enlightenment faster [laughs]. For dull ones it will take a long time. But that is not true either. There are many and many famous Zen masters who were [laughing] very dull [laughter]. Even in Japan there are many of them [laughter]. It is not a matter of clever or dull…. Cleverness is one of the barriers [laughs]… If we have not met the right teacher, we cannot study. That is one difficulty. Even though we met him, if we do not study, because of some deficiency, that is another difficulty. And clever people—cleverness is one of the three difficulties [laughs, laughter]. And this is very true [laughs].’ (from the Suzuki Roshi Archive)

We read most of this talk in the Monday group this week, and this was the passage that stood out for people.