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Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Best Way

Usually your way of study is to master it as soon as possible and by some best way. So before you think you may ask someone why you have some problem. But that kind of way may be very good for your usual life, but if you want to study Zen, it doesn't help so much.      --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-15 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not lookig for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching. 

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

By Yourself

In your zazen, perhaps you will have many difficulties or problems. But when you have some problem, it is necessary for you to try to find out by yourself why you have problem. Before you ask someone, it is necessary for you to try to find out why.       --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-15 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not lookig for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching. 

Monday, March 29, 2021

Errata Fix Retracted

 Oh oh. I guess I'm too impressionable sometimes. AM wrote a convincing argument that the punctuation in the sentence mentioned in yesterday's post. Read below his argument which led me to reverse course again - or am I being too impressionable?

Fooled

We shouldn't be fooled by Nansen and Joshu, even though he said, “Everyday life is [laughs] true way.” If you are fooled by them, you will say, “Whatever we do, that is true way. [Laughs.] There will not be no need to practice zazen. What is wrong with not practicing zazen? Even though we do not sit in cross-legged position, that is true way.” [Laughs.] When you understand in this way, you are trying to understand a koan literally without knowing what they really meant by their discussion.        --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not lookig for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching. 

Saturday, March 27, 2021

Errata Finally Fixed

Combing through various lists of errata and changes to my in-house file for Crooked Cucumber while creating a new, improved version, came across the note from Brit Pyland in the Errata section of the book's ganglia in cuke.com:

page 17, par.3, line 1: "Toshi did not become homesick,... no commas needed in this sentence.

It was too late to do anything about it then and I failed to get it in for the second printing. But now, the official updated version has that sentence without the comma, thus ensuring Brit's place in the pantheon of worthy contributors to Cuke Archives vast collage. 

Thanks Brit.

Aside

 So anyway, if you trust in words, you know, it's better to practice zazen [laughs, laughter] without any doubt. And it's better to be completely involved in your practice, forgetting-- putting everything aside. That is what I mean.       --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not lookig for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching. 

Friday, March 26, 2021

Jack and Ceci's new book

 


The Outrageous Guide to Being Fully Alive:
Defeat Your Inner Trolls and Reclaim Your Sense of Humor 

by Jack Elias and Ceci Miller


The methods shared here have helped many to get free of inner trolls and rejuvenate a sense of humor. 


Ready to step out of old habits and into a vibrant new awareness of your vast potential?

In this user-friendly guide, you will learn how to:

• Transform your Inner Critic into an Inner Coach
• De-hypnotize yourself out of harmful self-trances
• Awaken your joyful intuition and creativity

It is a sign of wisdom to seek insight into a struggle in a relationship at work, with
parents or children, or when facing uncertainty about one’s place in the world.

With characteristic humor and warmth, Jack Elias shares the exercises and techniques
that have brought rapid, positive results to people throughout the world, in his workshops
and private sessions, and in the Finding True Magic courses in Transpersonal Hypnosis and
Hypnotherapy/NLP based on his book.

Written in collaboration with Ceci Miller, these simple yet profound exercises are grouped
according to the most common problems people face in overcoming personal struggles.

Peace,
Jack

Jack Elias cuke page with link to a podcast with him and info on his other book and interview

Good to here. Chill out.

You cannot waste your time. It is not possible to waste your time. You think you're wasting time, that's all [laughs]. But you are not wasting your time.        --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not lookig for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching. 

Thursday, March 25, 2021

Everyone

Actually, you know, what I meant is...  anyway, you should practice zazen [laughs, laughter]. That is what I wanted to say. But you should practice it. You should be completely involved in your practice. That is what I meant in short. Then everyone will attain enlightenment.         --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not lookig for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching. 

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

One Way

Actually if you really practice koan practice with right understanding under right instruction, that is shikantaza. If you practice shikantaza under the right teacher it will be koan practice. If you understand our practice, what is our practice, there are no two practices. Your practice is pointing one way. It looks like various ways because you understand it in term of “Rinzai or Soto,” “shikantaza or koan practice.” That is your fault [laughs], not, you know, teacher's fault.          --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not lookig for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching. 

DC comment: When I see the fundamentalist Christian One Way theme on a bumper sticker or whatever, I think that's right. One way - and various ways to the one way.

Not Exactly the way it's done in the West

 


What I find most significant about this system of ecclesiastical grades is that dharma transmission provides access to only a relatively low grade. It is listed as a requirement for the very lowest ecclesiastical status, that of an instructor third class (santo kyoshi). Thus, in present day Soto Zen, dharma transmission constitutes a preliminary step, after which one’s real development begins. The relatively low status of dharma transmission means that in and of itself it does not qualify one to accept students or to train disciples. According to the regulations, Zen students should be supervised only by a teacher who has attained supervisory certification (i.e., sanzen dojo shike status), that is, someone who in the popular literature might be called a Zen master. To attain supervisory certification requires not just high ecclesiastical grades and dharma seniority but also at least three years’ experience as an assistant supervisor at a specially designated training hall (tokubetsu sodo), during which time one undergoes an apprenticeship. This monastic apprenticeship agrees with the popular image of Zen Buddhism as a form of extreme asceticism. The popular image, however, reflects only a limited view of Zen life. These training halls are found at only about one hundred of the nearly 14,000 temples that constitute the modern Soto school. The vast majority of Soto Zen religious activities occur not at the training halls but at the local temples. - William Bodiford

Thanks Dosho Mike Port

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Could Be

You may think that it is nonsense for a Rinzai student [laughs] to come to Tassajara and practice shikantaza, but it isn't so. Koan practice could be shikantaza. Shikantaza could be, you know, koan practice.         --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not lookig for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching

Monday, March 22, 2021

ZIRN


Zen Is Right Now,
a sequel to Zen Is Right Here, is being published by Shambhala on July 13th hardback by itself or in a set with a slightly updated Zen Is Right Here.

Anyone who is interested in preordering the books can get 30% off their order on Shambhala.com. Details about the code itself and the fine print are included below.

  • Discount Code:  ZIRN30

  • Code valid on shambhala.com for orders of Zen Is Right Now and Zen Is Right Here through June 30, 2021. Enter code in shopping cart. Cannot be combined with other offers.
  • Shambhala pages for Zen Is Right Now and Zen Is Right Here - 2021
  • A note about this discount code: International shipping is very expensive from Shambhala website, so the discount will be most enticing for readers in the US and Canada.

Referring to the matter addressed in recent posts

Although the great teacher Nansen and his disciple Joshu have this kind of discussion, it does not mean anything to those who do not understand the true way. But it will give us some suggestion, and it will give us some encouragement to practice our way -- Rinzai student or Soto student.         --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not lookig for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching

Saturday, March 20, 2021

Explain

There are many and various ways to attain the true way-- true way experience which could be your own, and which will be different from  another's' way, and which is quite independent way from other's way.- at the same time which is universal way to everyone. That is true way. If so, how can I explain [laughs] what is true way?        --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not lookig for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching

The Original Frontier

 


The Original Frontier: A Serious Seeker’s Guide to Zen 


by Michael Elliston, from Red Feather Books.


Zenkai Taiun Michael J. Elliston is the founding teacher of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and the Silent Thunder Order.


Original Frontier is designed to help you cut to the chase in adapting meditation to everyday life and problems. 


This “frontier,” as a metaphor, captures the world of meditative insight that Buddha entered into some 2,500 years ago. But it is even more relevant for us today, living as we do in challenging times of international conflict and pandemic, a new Age of Uncertainty.


Original Frontier is a meditation manual for the rest of us, one that anyone can use, whether a beginning novice or an experienced practitioner, to improve upon your personal practice, and learn how to meditate in the irreducibly simple method of Zen.


For more in-depth background about the book, including the foreword by Zoketsu Norman Fischer Roshi, visit the Original Frontier page on the Silent Thunder Order website.


Friday, March 19, 2021

Do We Exist?

I get an email from Quora with people's answers to questions and sometimes I read one if it looks interesting. There are many, many answers, but the email just goes to one of them. Here's one answer to the question Do we exist?

Getting out there

There is no difference between bird's or fish's way and Buddha's way.       --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not lookig for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching

Thursday, March 18, 2021

No Dif

So there is no difference between everyday problems and koans.      --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not lookig for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

What type of Buddhist are you?

Haven't been asked that recently, but one answer I've given a lot - especially if it was for some sort of media, is that I'm a Joe Gould Buddhist. Joe Gould was a Greenwich Village Bohemian in the forties and fifties. He was a writer with famous poet friends who either just wrote one poem or, of his writing, only one poem survives. And it has gained some fame. There was a whole movie about him and this poem was the tag line. Here is that poem:

In the winter I'm a Buddhist.
In the summer I'm a nudist.

For more on Joe Gould, go to this DC report on the April 1, 2006, St. Stupid Day parade in San Francisco.


They did it so you can do it

So anyway, the point is that you can accept things as it is, as you accept Buddha as your teacher. That is true way. And as our patriarch and buddhas did it, it is possible for us to attain that kind of true way.      --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not lookig for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Michael Kay interview with Lew Richmond

 

Michael Kay, author and holistic financial advisor, interviewed Lew about his new book on aging for men, EVERY BREATH, NEW CHANCES.  Lew says, "Michael is a real innovator with a broad audience; his website is full of interesting content."

You can listen to their conversation 
here, and you can purchase the book  here

Lew's cuke page

True Way

So everyday -- when you accept even toilet-paper buddha, you know, you have the true way.     --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not lookig for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching

Monday, March 15, 2021

Michael Phillips


Saturday posted podcast with guest Michael Phillips
who advised Zen Center on businesses and finance and lots more for decades. Especially interesting to me was his story of how Greens Restaurant came about. He's not only an original and brilliant thinker, he's fun. - dc

True

The true way is not something you can achieve in terms of right or wrong, or successful or not successful. The important point is to have always composure within ourselves whether we are successful or not. To have deep mind, to include everything within ourselves-- that is true way or dao.     --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not lookig for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching

Saturday, March 13, 2021

Toilet Paper

But what you will attain is something quite different. It is not something to describe. So we call it emptiness. Or sometime toilet paper. [Laughs, laughter.] Sometime cats. Sometime fox. Whatever it is, you know, it is another name of something which cannot be described. That is true enlightenment. Only when you have it, you know, then you may say, “everyday life is true way.” Even toilet paper is true way [laughs]. Whatever you do, that is another name of the true way you attain.     --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not lookig for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching

Friday, March 12, 2021

Nansense

So Nansen says, you know, if you try to follow the way, you will be far away from it.     --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not lookig for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching

Thursday, March 11, 2021

Koan and Shikantaza practice

 So actually, what we do in the same, and what we will attain is same. But, you know, what you attain is something completely different than what you expected.      --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not looking for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

No Time

In shikantaza we have no time, you know [laughs], to expect something. We have pain in our legs, and sometime it may be very cold [laughs]. So to remain in right posture is difficult. And if you are involved in our practice with right posture, with good breathing, you have no time even to have beautiful picture of enlightenment, [laughs]. It is already hard enough to sit.      --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not looking for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teachingN

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Try

In koan practice, you know, you try hard to attain enlightenment. In shikantaza, you know, we do not try to attain enlightenment.      --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not looking for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching

An Apology

Silas Hoadley, a key disciple of Shunryu Suzuki, was an importer. He tried to help a little dye company back in the early seventies. Chick Reader who'd been a Suzuki student in the early sixties, remained close to Silas after his path led elsewhere. Chick invested money in the dye company. The company went bankrupt. Years later Chick and Silas went mountain climbing together. At some point Silas got stuck and needed Chick's help to get out of a jam. He asked Chick for a hand. Chick said, "Silas, you never apologized to me for the money I lost on that dye company." 

"I'm sorry Chick," Silas said.

Chick reached his hand down. 

Monday, March 8, 2021

Nicole Baden

 


Nicole Baden, a long-time student of Richard Baker, a teacher in his Dharma Sangha, was a guest on Saturday's Cuke Podcast.

Rice Cake

Dogen Zenji always says, “Don't try to attain enlightenment. Just [laughs, laughter] practice it. Even though you have some idea of enlightenment-- like a beautiful picture to attain, to realize, to actualize that idea, you practice zazen. What you get is quite different thing. It will not be the paintings, you know, of rice cake. What you will get is something quite different. That is true.      --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not looking for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching

Saturday, March 6, 2021

Unexpectedly

To follow our way rigidly, you know, to attain some power or some enlightenment or experience may not be true way. But while you are doing so, unexpectedly [laughs] your enlightenment will come to you. And that enlightenment is not the enlightenment you expected [laughs, laughter]. That will be how you will experience our true way.     --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not looking for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching

For those who receive these posts in email

 Sometimes a post goes out and then gets updated. These updates don't go to those who get these posts in email. Recently Publish was chosen instead of Save and a post went out with only an x for a topic - and that wasn't the first time. In a case like that, you can late go to the post online at  http://cukenew.blogspot.com/. and see if it's been fixed. You can get there by hitting "See this post in your browser" and then clicking on the title of the post. I can also delete the post and repost it. Then it will go to you. 

Another fascinating item. These email posts had a Read More function but there was seldom anything more to read. This caused some confusion. That message has been eliminated by the deft computing skill of Peter Ford. 

Another interesting point. We don't post on Sundays. So this post is being past-dated to Saturday at four pm even though it's being uploaded at 2am Monday Bali time which is way past my bedtime.

Ta ta. (that's Hindi)

DC

Friday, March 5, 2021

Tassajara News from SFZC Sangha News

On the summer guest season

Tassajara in the Pandemic


Intuitively

Even though I explain what is true way, and even though you understand what I say, that is not true way. Only when you have actually that power to extend your experience to everyday life. Then, and without trying to observe our way, naturally, intuitively, when you are able to observe our way, that is true. You understand?     --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not looking for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching

Thursday, March 4, 2021

Excerpts from Searching for the Path Within


Excerpts from Chris Miller's new book 

Starting off with 1967 Sokoji

Chris Miller cuke page


Christopher Lennox is Chris' pen name

Continuing from yesterday and the day before that and that

 So anyway I will explain, first of all, this koan: 


Joshu asked his teacher Nansen, “What is dao?”

And his teacher Nansen answered, “Everyday mind is dao.”

And Joshu asked his teacher again, “How to accord with the dao?” or “How to follow the dao? 

And Nansen said, “The more you try to follow the dao, the more you will lose the dao.” [Laughs.] That was his [answer]. And he continued, “The true power does not belong to the matter of attaining it or not attaining it. If your practice goes beyond the matter of attaining it or not to attaining it, your mind will be like a boundless blue sky. And you will have no problem in your everyday life.” That was his answer. 
      --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not looking for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

All Beings Have Buddha Nature

 Here's a new entry to the archive of Shunryu Suzuki lectures on shunryusuzuki.com. It's the earliest one now. From 1950. As remembered by his son Hoitsu.

thanks Peter Ford 

Endlessly

When you have power, you know, then you can extend that power to everyday life. But the next question will be how you can obtain that power. And you may wonder what kind of experience you will have when you have acquired the power [laughs]. This kind of question will continue endlessly.       --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not looking for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

City Lights Photo

 

Photo by Allen Ginsberg

thanks Ken Ireland

Power

You may think, you know, that if you practice good enough then you have power which could be extended in your everyday life. Actually it is so, but then how you acquire this kind of power is a different matter.      --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not looking for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching

Monday, March 1, 2021

SR orchids

 New Life for Suzuki Roshi's Orchids -  from SFZC Sangha News

Everyday Mind is Dao again

Shikantaza and koan practice are not exactly the same, but there is not much difference. Shikantaza is a more condensed practice, more essential practice, or fundamental practice than koan practice. The purpose of koan is same as shikantaza. Anyway, I want you to understand how you practice our way by explaining this koan of “Everyday Mind Is Dao.”      --------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki  lecture 69-03-10 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC  - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not looking for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these e,xcerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching