Talk Given to a Visiting Class
Talk Given to a Visiting Class
We Are Just a Tiny Speck of Big Being
This chapter presents a transcript of Suzuki Roshi's talk on the general spirit of the Sandokai, given to Tassajara students and a group of visiting philosophy students. He begins by saying that the purpose of the study of Buddhism is to have a perfect understanding of things, to understand ourselves and what we are doing in our everyday life. It is also necessary to understand why we suffer and why we have so much conflict in our society, in our families, and within ourselves — in other words, to understand what is going on in the objective and subjective realms. If we see things-as-it-is, and if we are aware of what we are doing and have a good understanding, we will know what we should do. This is the intellectual study of Buddhism, which includes both dualistic and non-dualistic study. It is also necessary to have some real experience of the Buddhist way. Study and practice are different from each other; even though you have a good understanding, if you do not follow that understanding, it will not help you.
Keywords: Suzuki Roshi, Sandokai, understanding, Buddhism
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