Shunryū Suzuki: … you cannot just sit when you are angry. Anger greed and delusion appear when you are not just you. …

Student: If a person is just themself, could that include just anger?

Shunryū Suzuki: We don’t say that anger is not good; anger is just anger, that’s all. But if you have some excuse for being angry, that is not just anger. Unless you practice and understand our way, it is rather difficult to be just angry, like a thunderstorm: “Kiiiihhh!” Next moment nothing. That is beautiful. “Raaaahhh!” That’s all. I wish I could do that.

Uit: Becoming yourself. Teachings on the zen way of life, Shunryū Suzuki, Penguin Random House UK, London, 2025, p. 52.
Afbeelding: The thunderstorm, Grandma Moses, 1948.