August 1971
San Francisco
Assistant:1 —to make it record…
[Long silent gap in tape.]
Suzuki dictating as he
translates a text:
“Therefore, no buddha attained enlightenment without the form of a shaved
head. No patriarch is without the form of a shaved head. So the most
virtuous thing is the virtue of a shaved head.
If you build a stupa adorned by seven jewels to
reach the thirty-third heaven, the virtue is great, but in comparison to
the merit of a shaved head, it is not so good as even one hundredth. And any [1-2
words] cannot be described. A stupa could be destroyed, and
once it is destroyed, the form cannot be seen. But the
merit of a shaved head will increase more and more until it reaches to
the Buddha's foot. And its merit will not be lost.
Therefore, without changing our body we are beyond the commoner. Even though we
do not attain buddhahood, we are already a son of Buddha. We are the most
valuable beings in the three worlds, and our life is
the best of the lives in the six conditions of life.
Think carefully. Now, you change your karmic body and mind, attain
enlightenment, and will be born in Buddha land. The beginningless
karmic attachment will be instantaneously stopped, and innate
virtue will result. Therefore, after you shave your head, heaven and earth
cannot cover you. You cannot be mixed with the rest of the beings in
the six worlds.
A shaved head has nothing to cover, and a square-sleeved robe is a symbol
of emancipation. People who see it will have great encouragement, and your
close relatives will have good affinity. Your being is the highest in
the three worlds, and your virtue is the highest in the world in
ten directions.
Kings are not higher than you. Your parents are not more respectable
than you. If they are not your teachers, you shouldn't bow to them; if they are
not buddha and patriarchs, there is no one to bow to. Therefore we say the
karmic life of the three worlds.
It is impossible to cut off love and affection of the family. When we go
beyond family relationships of love and passion, that is a way to return
the benevolence you receive from them. Thinking about how great is the
benevolence you received from your parents, with sincerity you should refuse
it. Thinking about how great is the benevolence of water and
the earth, we should return the benevolence through a real
way of returning it. This is real practice of renunciation and the most
lofty and highest way to live.”
_______________
1 Thought to be Yvonne Rand.
Source: City Center tape transcribed by Sara Hunsaker (8/8/99) and checked by
Bill Redican (3/23/00). Lightly edited for readability by Wendy Pirsig and
Peter Ford (4/2021).
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