Zen Is Right Here

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59 - rejected

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At a Sokoji lecture, a distraught woman said she had been rejected by a Zen teacher in Los Angeles. Suzuki Roshi told her that if she went back to that teacher he would accept her.

"Now you reject me," she cried.

"Oh no," Suzuki said, with sincere sympathy in his voice, "You can stay here." And with his arms opened and long robe sleeves gracefully hanging at his sides, he took a step toward her and added, "I never reject anybody."

p.61. David Chadwick, Sokoji, 1967.