Our Way

Our way is not to be prohibitive or controlling. Just to put our effort to another direction is our way. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-05-B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

A Critical Situation

Most young people have this kind of feeling—a kind of resistance. When we have this kind of resistance, observing something quite common is difficult because it is not so encouraging. But if you are under a very critical situation, you will have to have, or you will find out your true nature. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-05-B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

A Lighthouse in a Stormy Ocean

If we don't know what is true practice and the nature of our practice based on human culture and where we should put our effort, we cannot make appropriate effective effort in helping ourselves and others. This kind of instruction given by Dogen Zenji is like a lighthouse in a stormy ocean. When the sea is very calm, you should rather expect and like to have a storm [laughs]. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-05-B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

In Memorium Layla Bockhorst Smith

 

A Cuke Podcast for Layla 

Layla's cuke page

For the Beginner

Like I told you over and over, the point of our effort is like this: for the beginner it looks very discouraging and frustrating. Someone in dokusan said, Zen is like standing on your head [laughs]. It is simple, but to keep standing on your head is very difficult. I think that is very true. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-05-B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

Resume the Source of Life

If we do not know how to resume the source of life, we will have both joy and regretfulness. We cannot enjoy our life in its true sense without this practice. That is why Dogen Zenji put emphasis on practice. It does not mean to slight other practices, but if we forget this point, whatever practice it may be, it won't work. It won't help us in its true sense. On the other hand, if you understand this point, whatever way of practice you apply, it will open up your mind for everything. And to be ready for accepting various difficulties is the purpose of zazen. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-05-A - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

Joy / Regret

In zazen, our mind should not be in a state of contamination or in the state of sleepiness. If sleeping, we cannot practice zazen. But on the other hand, if our mind is in a state of agitation or of extreme joy, we cannot practice our way. And describing this extreme joy, Chinese people use two characters. One is the culmination of joy. And the other character is regretfulness. This describes if the culmination of joy happens to us, the next moment will be regret [laughs]. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-05-A - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo. Practice Thanksgiving!

Evolution of Life

The evolution of life creates many problems for us. I am not regretful about our civilization. I enjoy it very much. But at the same time, we should know that there is not complete freedom or complete renunciation in this kind of civilization. Even though evolution brought our individual lives to this point where we have many fears, we know how to resume our original source of life. Then we can enjoy this civilization at the top of evolution of life's activity. Without this kind of understanding, when you are involved in activity you may be all right, but what will happen next? You will be very regretful. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-05-A - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

Separation

I went to Yosemite and saw a waterfall. I was watching it. It was one sheet of white pearls hanging on rock. But a part of it was separated from the rock and falling down. When I saw it, I felt very sorry for the separated water [laughs]. It was almost going to be mist, but was still water. If it became completely mist, there would be no problem for it. But they are not completely mist yet, or water. So it had to travel one thousand feet, all the way down to the bottom. If I hadn't seen that separated water, I wouldn't have that kind of feeling for it. But separation from the original source creates some feeling for us. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-05-A - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

Many Kinds of Practice

In ancient times, people practiced various ways. Sometimes they meditated on skeletons; sometimes they meditated on water; or sometimes they practiced zazen to detach—thinking of a filthy bag containing lungs and stomach and many nasty things within it. Even a beautiful person contains many filthy things [laughs] in her. Actually they did this. There are many kinds of practice for us. You are just laughing at them, but if you were in the situation, you would do it. But in America, this kind of thing will never happen. All those practices work, when based on the true way of zazen. But if those practices are directed only one way, they don't work. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-05-A - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lect

Readiness of Mind

Dogen Zenji said, “Think unthinkable.” We think, but the direction of our thinking is opposite. Instead of trying to attain something, we try to forget. Instead of to keep thinking, we try to stop thinking. What you will acquire through this practice will be tremendous, and every activity should be based on this kind of readiness of your mind. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-05-A - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

Universal

Whatever happens to you, as long as you know the bottom of suffering—bottom of fear—you feel quite safe. When you do not know the bottom of it, there you have real fear. You don't know what to do with yourself. As long as you know what will happen to you after your death, there is nothing to be afraid of. Our practice is to resume our original state of being which is universal. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-05-A - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

If Fire Comes

As an old Zen master said, “If fire comes, you should be burned. If water comes, you should be drowned.” That is our way. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-05-A - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

No Fear

There is no possibility for dogs or cats to be insane [laughs]. Because we are human beings, we should get dressed in some way. If we go insane, we may walk around without any clothes. We don't want to do that as human beings. But for cats and dog there is no such fear. Whatever happens to us after all, if we know what our life is completely and where we go completely, there is no fear whatsoever. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-05-A - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

Going Insane

Even if you cannot deal with your fear, nothing happens to you. Even if you go insane, that is all right [laughter]. Because we are normal, we have that kind of fear. We should feel lucky to have the possibility of going insane. But usually, we are trying not to be insane. That is the opposite of our zazen effort. Rather we practice zazen to enjoy the possibility of going insane [laughter]. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-05-A - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

Mayumi Goddess Exhibition link fixed

 The link to the brief video of Mayumi Oda with Bob Thurman at the Tibet House at the opening of the exhibition of her wonderful Goddess art was bad in the prior post. It's fixed now and here it is again.

We Disappear

Actually, what does not disappear does not exist [laughs]. Because we disappear we are quite sure about our existence. If we did not disappear, we wouldn't know what we are, maybe ghosts. If we existed forever, we should be afraid of ourselves [laughs]. But fortunately, we disappear, we die. So, as long as we die, it is obvious that we exist in the realm of time and space. So, we are completely saved from fear. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-05-A - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

Goddesses Galore

 Brief video on Mayumi Oda's Exhibition at the Tibet House - with Bob Thurman.

- thanks Dan Kaplan

Time and Space

We live in the realm of time and space. Even if the earth disappears, space exists, time exists. As long as space and time exist, something will happen in time and space. So, as long as time and space is there, there is nothing to be afraid of, even if no form appears in this time and space. No one [laughs] can doubt that there is time and space. But according to Dogen Zenji, this kind of understanding is not deep enough. But tentatively, we can acknowledge that time and space is here. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-05-A - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

Original State

I remember saying something very extraordinary: Even though you die, nothing will happen [laughs]. Even if the earth is broken into pieces, nothing will happen. If you practice zazen, your mind will resume where—before anything happens. In our mind, there is no star, no earth, no sun—nothing whatsoever. But everything will come out from that nothingness. So, even though we die, if we know that all of us arise from this nothingness, to die is to come back to the source of life. So, for everything to appear implies the possibility of resuming an original state from which we appear. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-05-A - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

Resume Fundamental State

At the same time as your mind is crystallized, you will have uneasiness. That will be the result of your ordinary efforts, while zazen practice will not result in this kind of fear or attachment. Our effort will be directed in the opposite direction. So, the more you practice our way, the more your mind resumes its fundamental state, where there is no feeling and where you do not think anything: no discrimination, no attachment and no fear. This is the difference between the effort in your zazen practice and the effort in your ordinary activity. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-05-A - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

Nothing Is Permanent

When you cling to some object, it means you are clinging to yourself at the same time because that object is the projected self. And, if it is good, that attachment will result in some fear because you will try not to lose it. But everything is changing. So even though you cling to it and have fear of losing it, that object will change. Nothing is permanent. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-05-A - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

Practice in Various Ways

We human beings understand things from various angles—from positive side and negative side. And when we are able to appreciate things from both sides, one by one, there we have a true way of life and true practice. We should not always be involved in a one-sided way of appreciating our life. Sometimes positive, sometimes negative. In this sense we should practice in various ways, observing ceremonies and not observing ceremonies by just sitting. This is our way to be. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-04-B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

Participate in Nature

Rikyu, the founder of the tea ceremony, would sweep his garden, and he appreciated falling leaves on a well swept garden. If the purpose of sweeping a garden is to get rid of leaves, why did he appreciate them on a well swept garden? Leaves on a well cleaned garden and leaves in the mountains are not the same. The feeling is quite different. We are also a part of nature, and we should participate in nature. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-04-B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

How to Search for something in Shunryu Suzuki lecture archive

Someone just wrote and asked me to look for a good quote in the Shunryu Suzuki lecture archive that dealt with today's political and social situation in the US. Obviously they thought this is something only I can access. Not so. I responded:

Anyone who can get online has the same ability as I do to search SR talks. I just go onto the Internet, go to shunryusuzuki.com, open the gate to the base page then click on the Lecture Search Form, and write in the Keywords or Filename box. Also at the base page there's a Google site search where you can search for two words near each other with "and" between them. There's even a third Mnemotrix search method.

I will be thinking about the sort of quote they're looking for but I think they'll know better than I do what they want. - dc

If Everything Is Mixed-up

If everything is mixed-up always, what is the point of appreciating everything if everything is just phenomenon? Why do we appreciate such a tentative phenomenal world? If you understand in that way, that is like serving salad and brown rice and miso soup in one big pail. How would you feel to eat from a bucket like a pig? [Laughter.] Even though it will be mixed-up in our tummy, we should serve one by one. That is our way, you know. But we do not keep it separate in our tummy. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-04-B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

Last week's Podcast guest

Before a new podcast is posted Saturday, check out last weeks - Berry Crawford in his encore podcast, this time on his outdoorsy Sierra Foothills Zen and mainly on the Science of Zen. Neat stuff. 

Hi websites are Simplicty Zen dot com with his video podcasts 

Science of Zen dot org

Sierra Foothills Zen do com

Berry Crawford Cuke page

- dc

Concentrated on Each Moment

In the sky, sometimes wild geese are flying. And after that some clouds will come. And after that the bright moon will come. But each of the wild geese and clouds and moon are not always the same. The bright moon is bright moon, and wild geese are wild geese, and cloud is cloud. But at the same time, the moon is not moon, cloud is not cloud, and wild geese are not wild geese. They exist in the same place in a mixed-up state. Even though it is mixed-up, our practice should be concentrated on each moment. When we see the moon, we should see the moon. When we see a cloud, we should see a cloud. And we should appreciate everything one by one. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-04-B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

RIP Layla Bockhorst

Just got word from Chris Fortin that dear friend and truly good person, Layla Smith Bockhorst has died in hospice care with husband Jim.

I loved sitting with Layla's group in Larkspur one morning a week when Katrinka and I lived in San Rafael. She and Jim were emigrees from Reed College who came to Zen Center in the early seventies.

Condolences to Jim and Sarah and Robin.

Layla's cuke page

Contact DC for visiting info.

No Need to Think About It

The purpose of zazen is not to think about it. To catch ourselves in its full function is zazen. If so, there is no need to think about it. If you think about it, you will lose it. When you don't think and are involved in the practice fully, you have zazen. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-04-B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

Zazen Cannot Be Always the Same

If you want to catch reality in its true sense, you cannot think about it. When your life energy is burning in perfect combustion, you cannot catch it. That is zazen. But even zazen cannot be always the same. As something you eat in your tummy does not stay the same way, it will change into something else. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-04-B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.

RIP Paul Lee

 

I just learned that Paul Lee died on October 19th of this year. Paul was an early friend and supporter of the SF Zen Center and especially Tassajara. A UC Santa Cruz professor of existential and religious philosophy, staunch supporter of Alan Chadwick, environmentalist, chicken lover, homeless activist, one of Richard Bakers closest long time friends and supporters. Farewell dear friend. Condolences to widow Charlene and daughter Jessica. - dc

Paul Lee cuke page

Wikipedia

Paul's impressive Ecotopia website

No Practice Can Be Perfect Practice

No practice can be perfect practice. Even though to wash your face is a very good habit, but, if you are always washing your face, you cannot attain enlightenment [laughs, laughter]. The same thing can be said about your zazen practice. Zazen is a very good practice. But if you just are always practicing zazen, you know, it doesn't work. — Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 67-12-04-B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts - with a photo.