Norman Fischer obit for Daigan

Obituary for Daigan David Lueck published in the Sangha News.

Norman will do Daigan's funeral at Green Gulch Farm on June 7th at 4pm.

Photo Daigan and Arlene Lueck at Tassajara 1995 - from SFZC Sangha News

This obit contains a piece Daigan wrote about himself also sent to cuke by Don Brewer today. Posting it and Don's note here.

Chogyam Trungpa Calligraphy for Shunryu Suzuki

From Garuda: "A solitary rock is majestic. In memory of Suzuki Roshi." Chogyam.(From spring 72 Garuda which includes this tribute to Suzuki)

John Bailes writes:

For what it is worth I much prefer the translation of Rinpoche’s calligraphy that David S. provides in the The Cup book:

“The Tibetan inscription reads, ‘A boulder who dwells alone radiates majesty. In memory of the elder Suzuki. By Chokyo Gyatso’”

Both more elegant and heart felt.

The Teacup and the Skullcup: Chögyam Trungpa on Zen and Tantra

David Schneider's Intro - with other relevant links on that page.

Chogyam Trungpa cuke page 

Won't Criticise Executions in Indonesia

After all the harm caused by my country in Asia, as the US ranks 5th on the global execution scale, I think it unwise to be overly judgmental about Indonesia's recent execution of eight foreigners for drug offenses committed a decade or so ago.

One Line on Tim Buckley's Passing

From Tracy, Tim's adoptive brother (he was called in the family's obit).

A big tree has fallen in the forest. 

Tracy on Tim

Tim Buckley cuke page

Richard Baker on Tim Buckley

Thank you for keeping me informed about our large Sangha. I was startled to hear of Tim’s death. I had heard vaguely that Tim had cancer, but I had no idea it was serious. I have always particularly liked Tim. I share with him being a Harvard dropout, but me once, maybe you could say twice; but Tim I think told me he dropped out 8 times. Hard to believe, but its possible truth (if I got it straight) says alot about Harvard’s loyalty to the students it accepts, and a lot about Tim’s willingness to persist and simultaneously find his own way.

Jaffe does it again!

Selected Works of D.T. Suzuki, Volume II Pure Land

Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki (Author), James C. Dobbins (Editor),Richard M. Jaffe (Series Editor)

Link to Publisher's website

See Richard Jaffe's cuke page for more like links to volume one and stuff on him. 

And look at the day before yesterday's post about his and Elain's 30th.                              

Nice View

Katrinka and I left our usual Kuala Lumpur haunt, the school where we spent three nights - little kids, messes, small cozy room for us and our stuff - pull down the mattress leaning against the wall to sleep, in a house - said goodbye to our hostess and some parents and kids and headed off in a taxi through massive traffic and infrastructure to the nearby for KL (only thirty minutes) golf club where we're sitting on an outside porch overlooking fairways and trees, dark clouds with brightness breaking through before sunset. A lone building rises above the treeline in the distance. Not the KL scene we're used to. Waiting for Yip Lai Mun, our new hostess, to arrive. 

Farewell Daigan David Lueck

Daigan was 84 and died on the afternoon of Sunday, April 26th. He and I got close when I moved to Green Gulch in 1985 and became a transitional director. Katrinka and I visited with him and his wife, Arlene, before leaving for Asia. He gave me this incredibly cool and incomprehensible book he wrote for fun a couple of years ago. Can't find the name - don't think it's available but there's a link below to a book of his poetry. In 85 I asked if he'd clean up the paint shed and go through the plywood scraps and instead of throwing away the bad stuff he made a whole slew of dripped colorful paintings on plywood. Elin insisted on buying one from him. I took a few, gave all but one away which I still have in storage. He and Idilio and I hung out some at Green Gulch and they had horrific stories of the Korean war, stories with lots of corpses. He was sort of sad back then and definitely got more and more content as the years went by, especially when he got together with Arlene. He was a truly humble, gentle person.

Photo Daigan Lueck in the Green Gulch Farm zendo, by Alison Bank, via Lion's Roar via blogs.sfzc.org.

Katharine Cook writes on Flowers

Flowers as Food, Muscle and Memory

     On the Saturday evening of Geography of Hope, after finishing the volunteer duties which allowed me to attend, I was seated up on the hay bales at Toby’s (in Point Reyes, CA), preparing to watch the performances on the stage. 

Visa Problem Update

No problem. Turns out the message from the Indonesian Embassy saying they could only give us a one month visa which we'd have to extend in a month was more positive than anything we imagined.

Congrats to Richard Jaffe & Elaine Maisner on their 30th!

Last night Elaine and Richard celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary, as their wedding was April 28, 1985 at SFZC City Center. Also in attendance at dinner on the 25th in Chapel Hill are former SFZC residents Mo and Frank Ferrell, Eleanor and Dan Howe, Josho Pat Phelan and Tom Cabarga along with a few other non-SFZC friends.

Richard's cuke page

Click on Read more to see image larger

Be Himself

There is no need for us to be famous or to be useful. First of all, we should be-- each one should be he himself.

Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-08-28-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com - Edited by DC   

[Couldn't help not edit that 2nd sentence. - dc]

Back to the Embassy

Applied today at the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur for a new six month social/cultural visa for Bali.

Junpo Dennis Kelly and a Heart Blown Open

Posted 9-18-13 - SFZC, Shunryu Suzuki, and Tassajara mentions from A Heart Blown Open, a book about Junpo Dennis Kelly. - dc comments later.


More links and comments after Read more

Devote to the Truth

You should devote yourself to the truth you have completely. Then you will find out the true meaning of the truth. It is not matter of what is good or bad. It is a matter of whether you devote yourself to the truth completely or not.

Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-08-28-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com - Edited by DC  

Strong statement by Jimmy Carter on women's equality and religion

Losing my religion for equality - Published July 15th 2009 on this online site (according to Daily Kos). I don't think that's a very good name for it. Titles of pieces are frequently added by publications so maybe it wasn't his. More like clarifying his religion. - thanks Elizabeth Sawyer - dc

Off to Malaysia

Katrinka and I are flying to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. Back on May 4th with new Social/Cultural visas good for six months if all goes according to plan. And tomorrow's Sunday, my no online day. Ta ta! (That's Hindi for goodbye) - dc

Far-reaching Eyes

To set up the foundation is the most valuable work, and if you want to devote yourself, choose some fundamental work rather than visible conspicuous work. We have to work with far-reaching plans or far-reaching eyes. 

Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-08-28-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com - Edited by DC  

NRCAT 2014 Report

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture 2014 Annual Report

Here's their website

Ripe Green Bananas

That's right. They're green and ripe and last the longest and Ben of Annapurna was over and I showed him some and he said that's what he buys too. I just we'd just discovered them. Woman with a banana stand suggested them and I said but they're green and she gave me one to eat and it was good. Now I know what to look for it's go green. He also said that our blender was the best one, what he used in the restaurant, and Katrinka said but it's the cheapest one and he said, yep, it's what the street vendors use too. Last long and easy to fix. Said his mom bought an expensive one and it broke down the first day. Maybe we should blend some green bananas with some mango juice. Yum.

Love Returns by Gail Mueller

Brigid Meier sent the following note.

Gail Mueller has ovarian cancer and she is in hospice in Hawaii. If people would like to write her she can be reached at: Gail Mueller / 590 Kapi'olani St.Hilo, HI 96720. She sent me some of her poems and I produced a small chapbook of her work called Love Returns.  If anyone would like a copy, please email: <brigid88 at gmail.com>.

Quinn Mueller says "Help me help my mom." SFZC alum Gail Mueller is in need of help

View image larger after Read more.

To Pass On

Because we are so attached to individual existence like this we have fear of death but after we resume to our true nature there is nirvana. That is why we say to attain nirvana when we die. It is the same word. We say to take nirvana is to pass away -- to pass away is not such an adequate expression. To pass on.

Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-08-19 as found on shunryusuzuki.com - Edited by DC  

Dedicated to Tim Buckley who just passed on. - dc

A Century Ago

A Rare Historical Look At Old Indonesia - 25 Photos Taken Pre-1920

Chose a photo from the group for here of a Balinese woman spinning because in Northern Thailand a year ago I sat with a woman in a traditional village who was spinning hemp. I watched her go from raw material to usable thread or string. The scene looked much like that photo. Some of the other photos are much more far out.

A Card Reading Gone Wrong

Clay and I were visiting with Mike Gilmore in Desert Springs a few years back. Mike was an old Zennie who was the worst drunk we ever had at ZC that I can remember. He sobered up in the early eighties and became a rather successful artist and Tarot reader to folks in that area.

Dr. Grace Damman Reflects on the Experience of Filming States of Grace

From the SFZC's Sangha News

Grace has come a long way from the day a car slammed into hers on the Golden Gate Bridge. What an effort! 

That bridge is dangerous. When we first got Green Gulch there was an unofficial rule not to drive in the left-hand lane. Some cab and trucking companies had that rule. I've always followed that rule and insisted other drivers do so if I or my kids are in the car. I remember once a car with FBI agents ran into a car with Russian consulate employees, one of which died (as I recall). There's always some plan being discussed or promoted to get a barrier between the traffic going both ways. When rush hour traffic subsides they closed off one or both left hand lanes with traffic cones - until this year. Now, thanks to the efforts of Grace and others, 

Five Tim Buckley Obituaries

SFZC Sangha News

Doshi Mike Port at Wild Fox Zen

Adam Tebbe on Sweeping Zen

Lion's Roar

Family Obituary - in Read More

photo from Sweeping Zen film on Zen in America

Dr. Kim

Took some time to find Dr. Kim, Nyoman had driven me downtown Denpasar to find a Chinese medicinal herb place where the old guy read my pulses. Bali Bill had indicated where to go. But then later Bill said there's a place nearby down the Bypass, the busy street, an obscure Chinese grocery store, If they don't have it they'll get it from their Chinese pharmacy downtown. Mentioned that to Nyoman and he knew about it, pointed it out. Why didn't they tell me about it before?

Peter Schneider's email on Tim Buckley's passing

From: Peter Yozen Schneider 

Subject: [SZBA-Full-Member-Email-List] Zenshin Tim Thomas Buckley

Date: April 16, 2015 8:31:48 PM CDT 

Dear Everyone, 

I am sorry to have to announce that Tim passed away a little before noon at his home in Maine.  As many of you may know, he was diagnosed to have Stage Four lung cancer about a year ago.

Posture

If you practice zazen in right posture and in right way there is no secret. That is why I am rather strict with your posture. I can see through your posture whether you have everything or not, whether you are separated from your surroundings or not, whether you are one with your surroundings or not, if you are the master of the surroundings or not, if you are enjoying yourself in your surroundings or not.

Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com - Edited by DC  

Chinese Ant Chalk

First used this stuff in Japan. Bought some in Thailand a year ago and are using it now inside because a tiny ant colony has been marching into our kitchen area and finding every crumb and unwiped spot that had something they like. I have enjoyed watching them crawl out of the stove fan vent in the ceiling and walk upside down to the column above the dining table.

Difficult to Understand

It is difficult to understand Buddhist philosophy. The most difficult thing may be to give some interpretation to self-evident fact.

Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com - Edited by DC 

Now it's Monday here.

Enjoying unconnected Sundays. But now it's Monday - so here's a Saunters post. An hour of singles this morning. As the time wears on get weaker, have to focus on gripping the raquet, hitting ball in front, concentrating, shots getting more erratic. Told acupuncturist on other side that a Chinese herb doc told me not to try too hard and he said that just showing up was the important part. Reminded me of Woody Allen saying that 80% of life is showing up. Working on video editing saving the Suzuki for last. Will get to it soon. 

Shunryu Calligraphy

Tim Buckley who passed on two days ago - see yesterday's post gives us this today.

His Great River Zendo Gallery site has a piece of calligraphy.

Under it is a note that reads

Buddha

by Shunryu Suzuki

Posting this larger in the section on cuke for what was created with Shunryu's hand - letters and a little art or drawing.

Bobcat Update

Michael Katz sends Bobcat stories Tass and other.

A response to Bobcat post of Thursday, April 16

Maybe they are like fish stories. There was a Tass one in the ‘70s that began with people’s edible shoes, like Birkenstocks, mysteriously disappearing from outside their cabins.

Ghost in Bemo

Bemos are the VW bus like jitneys that tend to stay to certain routes and pick people up and drop them off. We use Nyoman's old bemo as a taxi. He told me the other day that he had a ghost in his bemo, that it took over and was shaking it side to side and he couldn't control it and finally he could stop it and it didn't come back. He refused my attempts to find a non woo woo explanation. I like woo woo so his take on it was okay by me.

Carbon dioxide triggered ancient mass die-off

From the Climate News Netword

Farewell Tim Thomas Buckley

Dear old friend and close Shunryu Suzuki and Harry Roberts student, Tim Buckley died yesterday morning at his home in Maine.

Met Tim when I first came to the SF Zen Center at Bush Street in 1966. He and I lived together at Loring Palmer's communal home in Japantown for a few months, till I moved to Tassajara. He was there too a few months later. He shared his Volvo with me. I used it to drive Suzuki Roshi and other people in and out of Tassajara some. He said I was hard on it but kept sharing. He was especially grateful to Loring for providing a quiet, structured practice in his apartment which he felt was a godsend compliment to zazen and lectures at Sokoji.

Suzuki wanted to ordain Tim as a priest for sure. He put that off till recently with Peter and Jane Schneider and their Beginner's Mind ZC in Northridge, CA. Time founded the Great River Zendo in West Bath, Maine. Here's their listing on the SZBA site. Here's their Facebook link.

Tim Buckley Cuke page for much more on and from Tim.

Ubud, The One-Trick Pony

From the Bali Advertiser - by Ibu Kat who writes excellent articles regularly published there. Ibu means mother and is like Mrs. or Ms. Katrinka uses Kat a lot and so she also is Ibu Kat. I was in Ubud for over a month in 1992 with Elin, her sister Diana, baby Clay, and son Kelly. It was like a quaint little town, fun to walk around. Unrecognizable now but we still like to go there. Thanks Katrinka for reading me this this morning.- dc

Blue Planet Practice

Update from One Earth Sangha

Register for EcoSattva Training featuring Joanna Macy, It's movie night on Earth Day: watch Planetary with us! Join David Loy in a webinar with GreenFaith and, of course, eco-dharma.

Walter Van Oel just sent some art

My Dream Trees

View Larger by clicking on Read More

Five Shunryu Suzuki Lecture Excerpts

Alby Fisher, from USA in Sao Paulo, Brazil, has been listening to all of the Suzuki lecture audio on shunryusuzuki.com. He sends these lecture excerpts he edited slightly and included the original below each. There's a note from him at the bottom. - dc

Tassajara Bobcat

Today I recalled the bobcat at Tassajara. Every now and then someone would spot one. Also there are mountain lions in those woods - but not so many. I never saw one there but I hear them. They sound different than bobcats. I'd be awake at night late doing firewatch and down by the barn a deep growl - more than one time. What else could it have been? Back to the bobcat. There was one that was seen more and more - in the eighties I think. They started feeding it. I was visiting Tassajara and there was a bobcat at the morning work meeting. Wildlife people came in and said no no no this is dangerous and took it away. Thought maybe it had been raised by people. - dc - This will go in Tassajara Stories - See Bobcat Update

Nothing Holy about It

The Zen of Being Just Who You Are
By Tim Burkett, edited by Wanda Isle. Shambhala; $16.95. 292 pages.

About Tim:  Tim Burkett was only twenty years old when he became a student of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. Today, Suzuki Roshi is one of the most famous Zen teachers in the world but, in 1964, he was virtually unknown outside of his small circle of dedicated Zen students. As a part of that core group, Tim remembers the struggle to raise money for the now famous Tassajara Monastery. He remembers the roaring applause when Suzuki took the stage after Janis Joplin at the Fillmore Auditorium during a fund-raiser.

Recently Discovered Late Draft Now on the ZMBM Source Lecture Chart

All the chapters/lectures are now available individually on shunryusuzuki.com. Go to the ZMBM Chart where they have their own column.

cuke page for this late draft of ZMBM Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind where you can also access the PDF of the whole draft in two parts.

Hotel Nosedive

A hotel near here just fired all of their employees one morning. Don't know what's happening with it. I imagine just not enough business for them to stay open but it could be a reorganization or something else. I wonder how all these places stay open. There are just way too many. But the main thing I thought when I heard that, was that that way of treating people comes from the West. But on the other hand, I bet they'll all find employment elsewhere before long. - dc

Just This Is It - Taigen Dan Leighton's latest book

Taigen Dan Leighton's new book, Just This is It is now on the Ancient Dragon website.

He writes, "I have several references to Suzuki Roshi's comments on Dongshan gleaned from the wonderful Suzuki Roshi archives.  Thank you so much for this valuable resource."

Shambhala Publications page for this book

Taigen's cuke page

Newly discovered Shunryu Suzuki lecture now in the cuke transcript archive

The Shunryu Suzuki lecture used for the epilogue of the late draft of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind recently posted here - Epilogue: Some Personal Reflections - is now in the transcript record as 67-03-00. 

cuke page for the late draft of ZMBM named Beginner's Mind

Clove Cigarettes

Before I came to Asia in 88 I used to smoke an exotic clove cigarette now and then in the States - or smell the aroma when someone else did - on the street, in a cafe, a theater, dance - remember?

Part Two of a Late Draft of Zen Mind Beginner's Mind

Go to the cuke page for this manuscript

now with all of it - links to PDFs of parts one and two and directions of how to find PDFs of the individual chapters/lectures on shunryusuzuki.com. Easier access to come.

I was calling this an early draft but realized we have Marian Derby's "Beginner's Mind" from a year or two earlier, 67, so now am calling this a "late draft." - DC

Included in part two on cuke.com and separately here on shunryusuzuki.com is the epilogue which is a new edition to the Suzuki lecture archive.

Cost of Parking

There's a lot of traffic and congestion here in south Bali around the big city, Denpasar, and up to Ubud and other places. When Nyoman drives me places he frequently has to pay a parking fee. He does it, not me. I pay him when we're through. I've noticed that the typical fee he pays to park is 2,000 rupia, about fifteen cents. Park your car here as long as you want.

Which Life Form Dominates?

Read this great BBC article on this subject.

A Newly Discovered Shunryu Suzuki Lecture

PDF of a newly discovered Shunryu Suzuki lecture which was used as the epilogue for a late draft of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.  The lecture is now identified as 67-03-00. It was given after his return from the East Coast in March 1967 I think. - dc

Go to the cuke page for this manuscript with links to the whole thing in two parts or separately.

Thanks again Daya Goldschlag for scanning that manuscript and to her hubby Ted Hensold for sending the scan to us and to Peter Ford for preparing all of the chapters/lectures of this draft for shunryusuzuki.com - and everything else. Access to them posted tomorrow. - DC 

  

Bill Schwob's Sculpture

Just featured Bill Schwob's Japan photo essay of Rinsoin, Zounin, and Shoganji a couple of days ago.

These days he's doing more sculpture - quite successfully. Art Limited Magazine put out a top ten list of the bests shows in each major city around the country and his show made the list for San Francisco (#7).

Bill Schwob's Sculpture website

Bill's photo website

No Proselytizing Here

I remember having them come to my door in Japan. Five foreigners are being deported from Bali for disseminating Johovah's Witness literature which goes against the country's ban on proselytizing or something like that. I know people who would like such a law back in the States. I've also read it was because they were on tourist visas and not authorized to do that sort of work. I know that you can't do volunteer work on a tourist visa. Reminds me. Must go out and get a Watchtower in Indonesian. - dc

Dark Matter more like Transparant Matter

Love this sort of stuff.

Talk about Mind Leading up to Yesterday's Suzuki Lecture Excerpt

Student: What does it mean to say, “Everything is mind?”

Sirzak our Soursop.

Great juice and fun to eat - over the compost bucket. Lots of seeds like a watermelon with lots of seeds. Sort of gooey inside. It comes apart easy so it's best to eat it at the market. One or two are enough. Scrape the inside of the rind with my upper teeth and pick them clean in my mouth and spit them out one by one. Obviously my mouth knows how to do stuff like this - to separate and not swallow what shouldn't be. I think it has its own little brain.   

Bill Schwobs Photos of Rinsoin, Zounin, and Shoganji

Bill Schwob and his Japanese wife Reiko live in Point Richmond, CA, and visited Rinsoin, Shunryu
Suzuki's home temple, when they were back in Japan to see her family. That was nineteen years ago. He took a bunch of black and white photos of  Rinsoin and Zounin, another temple in Suzuki's lineage, and Shoganji where he was born. Take a look at Bill's photos here. I'll try to get some more info written in below them soon. - DC

That's Hoitsu and Chitose Suzuki to the left. He's Shunryu's eldest son and abbot of Rinsoin.

Bill Schwob's Photo website

Coconut Review

I see I've mentioned coconut oil which we use a lot but not all the time cause it's strong. Love it though. Use it instead of butter or margarine too - Katrinka sticks mainly to olive oil for that. Also have mentioned coconut syrup - like maple syrup. Haven't mentioned eating coconut meat which we do without trying now and then. We drink coconut water every day - get it fresh from the market in the mornings from a woman who opens the coconuts when I arrive and fills four plastic glasses with snapping lids I bring in a backpack - a liter and a third - for 10,000 rupia - about 75 cents. We split one everyday, frequently after yoga. Great stuff. - dc

More on Mind

Student: When you become just mind, now there's nothing else. There's really nothing else but mind, and it covers everything. You can't even say it covers everything, there's nothing left to cover.

Widodo the Prez Next Door

Jokowi Widodo, the new sort of Obama like even in appearance president of Indonesia and thousands of other big shots are convening at the sprawling Bali Beach Hotel. We live at the back door. Lots of cars, taxis, and police and army - personnel carriers parked out front. The usually almost empty hotel next door is fully booked. We walk through the Bali Beach Hotel grounds a lot. Katrinka did so today and they let her - inquired where she lived and where she was going, were polite. She said there were tanks on the street on the other side. Looking forward to walking over there tomorrow morning to play tennis. If I don't come back, you'll know why. - dc  More pics of Widodo where that came from.

One pic from photo archive

Go to this photo on shunryusuzuki.com to see it bigger.

Summer '67 -Shunryu Suzuki + Dan Welch + Peter Schneider + Richard Baker + Chino-sensei (background?) at Tass [That's the note off the page for that photo (SR0049) if you access the photo from the site. I can't see Chino Sensei.

It's so much easier to post photos on cuke blogger than cuke.com. Must remember to do so. - dc

What is Mind?

Student: What is mind?

SR: Mind? When you say “mind,” of course you have an idea of mind and body, or big mind and small mind. So there are various meanings. We mean many things by mind. It was a big problem for us. It has been, and still it is big problem. What is mind and what is our body? Material or duality or mind and body is the same. But in Buddhism, mind and body is two faces of one reality.

Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com - Edited by DC 

[Left the "is" instead of "are" in those last sentences on purpose because he used that usage on purpose sometimes. - DC]

Just for Gags at Immigration Office

Local Indonesian Immigration Office installed a big screen TV in the foreigners waiting room and last two times I stood there laughing as Just for Grabs episodes played. It's a sight-gags silent hidden camera show out of Canada which, due to having no language, works anywhere people can laugh.

Have Your Own Mind

So just to have your own mind is the point. Then you will have everything. Then you can help others. Whatever you do, it's all right. How you have your own mind is the purpose of zazen.

Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-C as found on shunryusuzuki.com - Edited by DC 

Ordinary for sure

I remember when Edward Brown edited Shunryu Suzuki lectures for Not Always So, that Bill Redican was distraught because Edward used the old version transcripts and not the verbatim versions that Bill and his crew had meticulously been creating.

Pickpocket Protection

Phil from Michigan is here with his wife Bonnie for three months. They travel a lot. He keeps a dummy wallet in a hip pants pocket.

Tardigrades - we don't have to save them

Read on at BBC

Happy Easter

Easter - day of rebirth, enlightenment and all that. Dig it.

For a more thorough look at it, check out Easter's Inner Significance from Teosophia

It's not Easter yet but the cuke staff has rebelled and demanded a day off which is Sunday in honor of the sun, proclaimed by Mr. Turner to be god just before he died, at least in the movie.

Buddhist Film Festival

program guide pdf


program online


tickets, times, box office info

Congratulations Gaetano Kazuo Maida

Visible and Invisible worlds

We live in a big invisible world. The visible world is not so big - big enough to be bothered by it. So, you know, to sit is to live in invisible big world. So sooner or later we may die, and we go to the same place when you sit. That is the place where you will go [laughs]. 

[Sit here = do zazen]

Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-C as found on shunryusuzuki.com - Edited by DC 

Grimace and Pride Points

For the early morning hot water I squeeze the juice out of a lime and drop the squeezed semi-orb in the compost.

Happy Good Friday

Death of the Small Self Day - cuke version

And it's a public holiday here in Bali as is Easter. Lot of holidays here because of their religious inclusion. Everybody likes em. Three of four of Ben's employees at Anapurna are Christian and they were off yesterday - but not the cook - so he was alone last night serving and making drinks and Thursday night is one of the two big days there. Great blues too. Our laundry is sitting waiting at the travel office nearby cause it's run by two Christian brothers from Flores.

Rosicrucian take on Easter

Chapel Hill Zen Center

Suzuki Roshi in theSouth: Introducing Chapel Hill Zen Center

From the SFZC Sangha News Weekly


Good going to the founding teacher Josho Pat Phelan

Obstacle

Student: Isn't it true, Sensei, that any idea of the thought of enlightenment is an obstacle? 

SR: If there is some obstacle, it may be easy to take it away, but [laughs] actually there is no obstacle. The only obstacle which exists is the obstacle which doe not exist.

Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-C as found on shunryusuzuki.com - Edited by DC 

Overproduction, Overpopulation in Pictures

From the Guardian

Chronicles of CTR Important Announcement Receives cuke dot com Award of Excellence!

The Chronicles of CTR is the online archive of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche's lectures and oral history. Cuke has been in touch with them and shared info since back in the nineties. Read this "Important Announcement" which was the first email I read this morning - then read my comment below. - DC

No Idea of Buddha Nature

Student L: Was there some distinction between having an idea of buddha-nature, or the word buddha-nature and buddha-nature?

Memories of Phillip Wilson

Memories of early Shunryu Suzuki disciple Phillip Wilson from Scott Elofson

Phillip's cuke main page links from there. What a guy. - DC

Photo of Phillip with Shunryu Suzuki at Tassajara 1967.



[Gonna get back in to trying to post an image a day. - dc]

Med Sea Plastic Overdose

Plastic in the environment ain't just a problem in Bali - it's a big problem in the Mediterranean Sea. I wonder if we listed problems in order of their species threat and human survival and quality of life hierarchy, where this would go.  - dc

Bali Bill knew Arthur Okamura

Just sent this email to friends and family of Arthur Okamura. Adding to it now. - DC

Joanne Kyger Revisited

Joanne Kyger cuke interview corrected and edited by her

Includes a brief note from her to me pointing out that one correction was the spelling of Bill McNeill's name - with two Ls. That's been entered into the Errata for Crooked Cucumber and changing that spelling in many places in the book and on cuke.com is now on the To-do list.

Next is a brief note to the editor of the English magazine, Beat Scene which is publishing the interview. - DC

How Understand Discipline

Student: How could we understand our own discipline? That is, what attitude can we take towards disciplining ourselves?

Richard Moore Memorial Friday

There will be a memorial for Richard Moore at Mt Tamalpais Methodist Church, 410 Sycamore Avenue, Mill Valley, CA on Friday, April 3, from 2 - 4pm.

The Mt Tamalpais United Methodist Church is on the corner of Sycamore and Camino Alto, across from Mill Valley Middle School and just up the block from The Redwoods where he lived.

It will be in one of the side buildings, not the place where services and MV Chamber Music Society concerts are held. 

See yesterday's post about Richard's passing. - DC

Mangosteens - Brain Food etc

Maybe all those folks on the Internet are just trying to sell supplements, but it's comforting to read all the positive health benefits ascribed to the mangosteen which is called mangis here in Indonesia. I love em. So good and sweet and so easy to eat. Just squeeze and they open up. And as a result my brain will regenerate and memory and other functions will excel and more. Hurray!