On to the NINTH TALK in Suzuki Roshi's talks on the Sandokai ... "THE WILLOW TREE CANNOT BE BROKEN BY THE SNOW", pages 123 to 133.

I'd like to repeat something that I have found in listening to thousands of talks by Japanese teachers and essayists over the years (not only Zen teachers, but Japanese speakers and writers in general). As a cultural tendency, talks in Japan can be very "free flowing", with points apparently disjointed, heading in no single direction, and often leading to no definite conclusion. Suzuki Roshi presents excellent examples of this style, which is often combined with the language barrier and the whole nebulous nature of Zen discourse.

The way to approach this, I think, is not to look for one general conclusion from his talks, but to see each phrase (and sometimes single word and space between the words) as a flower in a garden standing on its own. Appreciate it for its own sake, as well as its total effect on the garden as a whole.

That is, after all, a perspective of dependency and independency.

If you would like to listen to a talk on this section with a different flavor, one of the priests from Shasta Abbey offers a talk rich with their style of teaching ...

http://www.shastaabbey.org/audio/series ... /san11.mp3
http://www.shastaabbey.org/sandokai.htm

Gassho, Jundo