No Other Way

I am not talking about ethics. What I can say now is for a person who understands that there is no alternative way to take. There is no “bad” if we understand our inmost nature. In the realm of morality there are two ways: good and bad. That is ethics. “This is good, and that is bad.” So, you have to take good instead of bad: That is morality. But that is if you live in a moral realm. But in a religious life, there is no alternative. There is only just one way. When you become quite religious, there is no other way to take. Water does not come up; it always comes down. —cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-26-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Photo by Gene DeSmidt

Two Different Matters

For me science is different. It’s from the viewpoint of a scientist. That is why even a scientist who has very advanced knowledge in a scientific way may become very superstitious [laughs]. You may say, “How is it possible for him to believe in such a primitive idea?” But some of them are quite superstitious. Science and spiritual life are quite different for him. Scientific knowledge and spiritual understanding are quite different: two matters for us.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-26-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Religion and Science

You have a very advanced science and various kinds of philosophy. And your achievements are almost perfect, especially in natural sciences. These achievements are very meaningful for us Buddhists. But Buddhists will give another interpretation from another angle. We do not change what you have achieved. We believe in your achievements. There is no room to [laughs] ignore scientific truth. But that is scientific knowledge. We should know that it is not religious knowledge which is something different. Religion understands science from another angle, without changing the conclusions. We do not doubt scientific truth. We accept scientific truth. But we will give some other interpretation to it, without changing the conclusions of science.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-26-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Proper Time, Proper Way

So our way is to do something in the proper time, in a proper way [laughs]. That is Zen, in short. And mind and object is one. Did you understand?

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-26-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Let me tell you about my journey through 35 years of Zen practice

A Life in Zen by Anshi Zachary Smith, director of the North Mountain Zendo, a zazenkai (sitting) group in North Beach, San Francisco, California - published by aeon essays. “Growing up in countercultural California, ‘enlightenment’ had real glamour. But decades of practice have changed my mind.”

Anshi Zachary Smith, Ryushin Paul Haller, Doshin Mako Voelkel

Respect Everything

When we idealize something, and when we become attached to the idea of “you,” I may abuse you. I think it is possible to abuse there, but it is not possible. When you do something which is not possible, [laughs] you will have problems, that’s all. That is why he says there is no time or space. Actually, what exists is what you see, or what you do, or what you hear in this moment. So, you must not abuse it, and you must not even try to utilize it. Just respect everything and just treat everything respectfully. That is our way.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-26-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Actual Relationships

Instead of emphasizing time and space, Dogen emphasized actual relationships which exist just now. That is why he is very strict with what we do—how we treat everything. We may abuse something because we think there is some permanent existence [laughs]. But actually, we cannot abuse anything. It would create a problem because there is no such thing which can be abused. Everything is living existence which does not have an alternative way of expression. When I say something and you are listening, there is no alternative [laughs] expression of yourself or of me.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-26-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

No Time and No Space

Dogen said, “There is no time and no space.” What he meant was no time or space as you think. Actual time is continuous and discontinuous. And it is not even a time. It is the actual growth in a flower, the actual sun rising in the east and setting in the west. This is time, actually. So, in this sense, he says there is no time and no space. What actually exists is our movement which moves in one whole existence. We are all moving, and there is some uniformity in our moving. That is actual time and space.

Image generated by ChatGPT

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-26-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Just Sit as Yourself

A direct teaching on renunciation and zazen

By Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

 Fall 2025 Tricycle Magazine

From Becoming Yourself: Teachings on the Zen Way of Life by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, edited by Jiryu Rutschman-Byler and Sojun Mel Weitsman.

Featured Cuke Archives page

Adam Beck was living at Tassajara before the SF Zen Center bought it in December of ‘66 from his parents. He was two at the time. He’s an artist now living in San Anselmo. I’ve known him through the ensuing years, so we’ve got a lot to say to each other, and he’s got a lot to say about Tassajara, Suzuki, Baker, and more in this podcast. Also, at first I apologize for an error in the prior Beginner’s Mind podcast.