Sunday Evening, August 16, 1970
San Francisco
Lecture A
[The first part of the lecture was not recorded.]
—restore the Buddhist teaching in its original way.
So, that you don't know anything about Buddhism is very good [laughs]. We have
no trouble to make you piece by piece [laughs].
American people are very open-minded. So for you, it is easy to accept the
teaching without trouble. That is my feeling.
And one more point is that because your mind is open, and you have not much
prejudice, you see things clearly. And if the teaching is not pure enough, then
you will not accept it. But of course there is some danger. The danger is that you
will easily get caught by some wrong teaching too. Someone said American people
are like sheep [laughs]. There is that danger. And if you meet with an ambitious
person, you will easily be involved in wrong activity. That is one danger. But
for a sincere teacher, American people are maybe the best friend.
Anyway, this evening, I wanted to make our practice clear from two viewpoints:
from student's viewpoint and from teacher's standpoint. When we have mutual
trust, then the student's way will become the teacher's way, teacher's way will
become one with student's way. And, there we will have Dogen's way of practice,
which is called “practice based on original enlightenment.”
I am so grateful to finish this sesshin with this kind of warm feeling.
Thank you very much.
_______________
Source: City Center tape. Transcription by Nigel Edmonds and Bill Redican
(checked March 16, 2000). Lightly edited for readability by Wendy Pirsig and
Peter Ford (3/2021). [The original tape continues with what appears to be a
different complete lecture, which has been cataloged as 70-08-16-B.]
Audio & Other Files | Verbatim Transcript | Back to top of page