Saturday, September 30, 2023

Discouraged

If you think enlightenment is some particular thing which you can reach for or which you can attain, sometimes you will be discouraged. If you do not feel it’s possible to attain it, you will be discouraged. And you will give up the practice, and you will try to find some other teaching which is worthwhile to strive for. And so you will change from one way to another. Then you have no time to realize our true nature which is universal to everyone.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-24 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.


Friday, September 29, 2023

Enlightenment Is Always There

The problem is you are trying to do something, that is the trouble. Or if you do not understand what it is, you think nothing results or nothing exists. Or if you feel you can rely on something, teaching means nothing. But before you try to rely on it, teaching exists. Before you attain enlightenment, enlightenment is there [laughs]. That is true. It is not because you attained enlightenment that enlightenment appears. Because enlightenment is always there, so if you realize it, that is enlightenment.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-24 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.


Thursday, September 28, 2023

Just to Sit

Even though we say “just sit,” to understand what it means is rather difficult, maybe. Dogen Zenji left us many teachings to explain what is “just to sit,” but it does not mean his teaching is so difficult. When you sit without thinking or expecting anything, and when you accept yourself as a buddha or as an ornament of buddha, or if you understand everything is the unfolding of the absolute teaching, or if you understand everything is a part of one whole being–when you reach this understanding, whatever we say, whatever we think, or whatever we see, that is the actual teaching of Buddha. And whatever we do, that is actual practice of the Buddha himself.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-24 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.


Father Steve Frost sends a painting


We court the vales of 'no-thing' and find 

the plains of Heaven:


 Steve Frost cuke page

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Congratulations


To Danny Parker on the left who just received transmission from Ed Brown on Sunday, September 24, 2023. 

Danny Parker on Cuke 


Ed Brown cuke page




buddha, buddha, buddha, buddha

You know, when your practice is not good, you are a poor buddha [laughs]. If your practice is good, you are good buddha. And poor and good are also independent buddha. Poor is buddha, and you are buddha; and good is buddha, and you are buddha too. For every word, or whatever you think, whatever you say, every word becomes buddha. Then there is no trouble [laughs]. I am buddha. If I say “I am buddha,” “I” is buddha, “am” is buddha, “b” is buddha, and “buddha” is of course buddha. Buddha, buddha, buddha [laughter]. That is how you say buddha, buddha, buddha, buddha [laughter]. There is no need to translate it into English [laughter]. There is no need to be bothered by a fancy explanation of Buddhism [laughs]. If you say “buddha, buddha, buddha, buddha” [laughs], that is the way. That is shikantaza, you know: everything is buddha. So, sitting is buddha, lying down is buddha, and whatever you say, each word is buddha. Dogen understood in this way, so he said, “When it is cold, you should be a cold buddha. When it is hot, you should be a hot buddha.”

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-24 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.


Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Attain Is Extra

When it is hot, you should be hot buddha. When it is cold, you should be a cold buddha. But this is a very direct understanding of the story. Actually it says when it is hot, you should kill hot. When it is cold, you should kill cold by practice. But according to Dogen Zenji, when it is cold you should be a cold buddha, and when it is hot you should be a hot buddha. If you say “kill,” kill is extra [laughs]. If you say “to attain enlightenment,” attain is extra.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-24 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.


50 Years of Poetry from Jane Hirshfield


The Asking: New and Selected Poems
by Jane Hirshfield

The long-awaited new and selected collection by the author of “some of the most important poetry in the world today” (The New York Times Magazine), assaying the ranges of our shared and borrowed lives: our bonds of eros and responsibilities to the planet; the singing dictions and searchlight dimensions of perception; the willing plunge into an existence both perishing and beloved, dazzling “even now, even here”

Amazon link

Jane Hirshfield cuke page

Monday, September 25, 2023

Hot Buddha, Cold Buddha

Tonight I want to explain shikantaza. We say “just to sit.” What does it mean, just to sit?

A monk asked a Zen master, “It is very hot. How is it possible to sit somewhere where no hot and no cold weather comes?”

The master’s answer was, “When it is hot, you should be hot buddha [laughs, laughter]. When it is cold, you should be a cold buddha [laughs].”

That is “just to sit.”


—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-24 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.

Art by Paul Reps

Sunday, September 24, 2023

Saturday, September 23, 2023

Prescription

The Zen school was established without depending on any particular teaching. So, Zen students use various scriptures. We do not say this is the most important scripture or this is not so important. Whatever the teaching may be, that teaching will help at least someone. It may not be for all of them, but it will help someone. So, it is like medicine. For some patients some particular prescription is necessary, but we cannot say this is a better prescription or this is not so good. If you use it in an appropriate way, that is the test of a prescription.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-24 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.


Friday, September 22, 2023

Practice and Realize Our True Nature

That everything changes is an the actual truth, not Buddhism. This is the truth for Buddhists as well as for everyone. So, those teachings are not just our teaching, but for everyone. Even if Buddha didn’t talk about it, that is a truth which we observe every day. So, there is no need to depend on teaching. To practice and realize our true nature is the most important point [laughs]. That is Zen. If so, as long as we have buddha-mind Buddhism is for everyone.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-24 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.


Linda Lupo Wong

 


Linda came to the SF Zen Center in 1971 and was around a long time. Read about her coming that at 

Linda Lupo Wong cuke page - and see a couple of photos of her there.

Check out her beautiful monoprints at her Linda Wong Monoprints and Collages website 

and her Linda Wong Monoprints artist page on Facebook.


Thursday, September 21, 2023

No Merchants

For us there are no influential people or farmers. They are all Buddhists for us. As Dogen Zenji said, “You may say a merchant is not a Zen monk. But for Zen monks, there are no merchants or Zen monks. They are all Zen students.” This is our understanding of practice. So, whether they realize it or not, actually we are all practicing zazen.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-24 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.

Green Gulch Greengrocer c. 1975

An Interview with Alan Block

 


Rick McDaniel interviews Alan Block - on Rick's Zen Conversations and Profiles site. 

This is a good interview. - dc

Alan Block cuke page

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Everyday Life

If Zen is a practice for just learned scholars, or for just men of great spiritual ability, Zen will not help people. Actually Soto Zen in Japan, we put emphasis on our everyday life, not only zazen practice but also everyday life, thinking everyday life is a kind of Zen practice. Only just to help others, whether they can practice zazen or not. Try and help people by all means.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-24 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.

Shunryu Suzuki with young women's study group c. 1947

Oka Sotan


Here's a page for Oka Sotan whom Shunryu Suzuki called the source of all the great Soto Zen teachers of his time. 

Includes Shunryu Suzuki on Oka Sotan

That's Oka Sotan on the right and his disciple Kodo Sawaki on the left. 

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Cause and Effect

And the next question was, what is, then, karma? And I said, karma is if you do something, it will leave a result. And that result will cause some activity. In this way our activity will continue. And here we started to talk about the eternal. We didn't say “eternal present,” but cause and effect, cause and effect, cause and effect.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-21 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.


Monday, September 18, 2023

“We are ornaments of it”

I was talking with a guest, and she had a very good understanding. I was amazed [laughter]. We had been talking about thirty minutes, standing under a trellis. She said, we are ornaments of “it,” instead of saying buddha-nature. First of all, she said, she was thinking about the word for buddha-nature. And she said “it”—we are tools of it. That was what she said—tools of it. And I said, “Yeah, maybe tools of it.” And, actually we say, “We are ornaments of it” [laughs].

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-21 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.

Shunryu Suzuki and ? at Marian Derby's Los Altos Hills home c.1964

Sunday, September 17, 2023

Featured Cuke Archives page

Click the image ↓Silas Hoadley

Photo of Silas Hoadley by Tim Buckley in 2014

Saturday, September 16, 2023

Like Water

Our practice is like water. Water is necessary for everyone. Even though wine or lemon juice tastes good, or ice cream is good [laughs], if you always take ice cream or lemon juice, you cannot survive. So, you should not forget water. Our practice is like water. People are liable to forget why water is so important. You can find it everywhere. So you do not appreciate water so much. But if you forget water, you will eventually get into some trouble. You should not forget water.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-21 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.

Photo by Liz Hecker

Friday, September 15, 2023

No Steps

In Soto—in shikantaza, there are no steps because we are expressing our true nature through practice. We already have innate nature. And what we should do is to express it. So there are no steps.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-21 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.

Photo by Gene DeSmidt

Thursday, September 14, 2023

Koan Study

In the time of the Sixth Patriarch, [laughs] there were no koans. Only in the Sung Dynasty koan study started. If koan study is the only way to study Buddhism, the Sixth Patriarch or Bodhidharma were not Zen masters [laughter]. I don’t say koan study is not good, but if you think koan study is the only way to study Zen, you cannot explain why Bodhidharma or the Sixth Patriarch did not use koans. So Zen is not just koan study.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-21 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.


Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Everyone Is a Zen Buddhist

If zazen is the only means to attain enlightenment, few people will be saved by Zen. But according to Dogen Zenji, Zen is not such a thing. Zen is for everyone whether you can cross your legs or not. Everyone is a Zen Buddhist as long as they have buddha-nature.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-21 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.

Painting by Dan Welch, 1988

Pokorny Podcast

Charlie Korin Pokorney was a guest for the most recent Cuke Podcast. Listen to it a the Podbean host site or go to the cuke podcast page for other platform links. 

Charlie Pokorny is now a teacher at the Brooklyn Zen Center. He and his wife Sarah were head teachers at Stone Creek Zen in Sebastopol, CA, for 8 years. He was at the SFZC, mainly Tassajara and Green Gulch farm, for 12 years during which time he and Timothy O'Conner Fraser got Shunryu Suzuki lecture audio and transcripts up on the SFZC website. He teaches at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley—and he's done a lot more but you can get at least some of that from the podcast.

Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Once Is Enough

Before Shinran, to repeat Amida Buddha’s name was a kind of practice, to be saved by Amida Buddha. If we wanted to be saved by him, we could repeat it, many, many times. That was the idea of repeating Amida Buddha’s name. But, according to Shinran, because we are originally saved by Amida Buddha, even if you say it once, that is enough [laughs]. If you are aware of your true nature, that is enough.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-21 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.

Amida Buddha

Monday, September 11, 2023

Every Day

Our evil desires are inexhaustible, but we vow to put an end to them [laughs]. This is something which you should do, which your buddha-nature asks you to do. Not something which you should promise to do [laughs]. Something which you should do day by day, every day.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-21 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.


Saturday, September 9, 2023

Vow to Save Them

For us there is no dead end. We say, even though there are innumerable sentient beings, we vow to save them [laughs]. That is our vow. This vow is not based on the possibility of attaining or saving all of them. But to make our best effort to express our true nature, we vow to save them all. And, if it is impossible—if there are innumerable people—our effort will be endless. In this way, we understand our practice and our vow.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-21 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.


Friday, September 8, 2023

To Express Our True Nature

For other schools practice is a means of attaining enlightenment. But a characteristic of Zen is without depending on teaching—because of our buddha-nature we practice zazen. The opposite, you know. Not to attain enlightenment, but to experience the enlightenment—to have enlightenment experience. To express our true nature, we practice zazen.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-21 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.

Shunryu Suzuki at Los Altos Hills zendo in Marian Derby's home, June 1966.

Niksen: The Practice of Doing Nothing

 

Niksen: The Practice of Doing Nothing,
(
The Dutch solution to our nightmare of intrusive stimuli.) an article by Lew Richmond on the Good Men Project and on his website.


Thursday, September 7, 2023

Starting Point of Zen Buddhism

There is no difference between our buddha-nature and Buddha’s buddha-nature. There is no need for us to depend on his teaching, but directly we should practice as he did. That is the starting point of Zen Buddhism. And that is Bodhidharma’s Zen.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-21 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.

Bodhidharma by Michael Wenger

A Profile of your's truly, DC

Yesterday What's New featured A Profile of Daya Goldschlag in  Richard Bryan McDaniel's site. He's been collecting and posting Zen conversations and profiles for ten years now. 

Today is a profile of me, DC. He interviewed me recently then sent me a profile he came up with for me to edit. I also edited the interview. He said the interviews go up much later.

He asked for a photo of me to go with the profile but he chose one off the web from like 15 years ago. He was looking for one with me smiling and I guess that's as close as he could get. I protested so he used the one I chose which is a crop from a shot of Katrinka and me in a restaurant in Ubud last January. I do not like to smile for photos. Even when I try because people insist, it comes off weird - unless i was caught really smiling. 

DC cuke page

Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Original Nature

For Bodhidharma our practice is quite independent of various teachings. This means our practice is independent from Buddha’s teaching. Although we accept Buddha’s teaching, our practice is not based on any teaching. Our practice is based on our original nature—buddha-nature. Even if Buddha did not appear in this world, we all have [laughs] nature. And we should start our practice because of our true nature which Buddha found.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-21 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.

A view from the Narayana Gurukula, Ooty, Tamil Nadu, India

Profile of Daya Goldschlag

 


Daya Goldschlag was interviewed by Richard Bryan McDaniel who's been collecting and posting Zen conversations and profiles for ten years now. This is her profile. The interview will come later. McDaniel only posts transcripts, not the audio. Daya came to Tassajara at the suggestion of Jim Forest, head of the Catholic Peace Fellowship. She'd been working with  them  in New York. She got to know Thich Nat Hahn there. She tells about her Stone Willow Zendo and the huge stone in her front yard. A good read. A great ex-wife. She's done good. - dc

Daya Goldschlag cuke page

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

Emphasis on Practice

Intellectually, or so far as the teaching is concerned, there is not much difference between all the Buddhists. But Zen Buddhism is very different from the other schools of Buddhism. The other schools of Buddhism put emphasis on understanding, but we Zen Buddhists put emphasis on practice, actual practice.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-21 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.


Why the Pines were called Church Creek property by the WLT

I wrote the Wilderness Land Trust (WLT) and asked why they're calling the land which they just bought from the SFZC the Church Creek Property. It's been called the Pines I think since Helen Quilty, owner of Tassajara till 1945, bought it. I pointed out that anyone who knows that area thinks of the Cave (Church Creek Ranch) when they see Church Creek Property. The woman from the WLT who did the deal with the SFZC said that when she walked in that property that it was on the Church Creek Trail so she used that name. I said, oh well, no matter. The important thing is it will be turned over to the Forest Service and preserved and the Church Creek Property is just a temporary name in the transition. - DC

See September 1st post here for more. 

Monday, September 4, 2023

Bells

There was a famous Zen master who had very sincere disciples. They were very poor, but the disciples wanted to buy a bell for chanting, and asked him to buy a bell for the temple. He was very angry [laughs] when his students asked him for a bell, “Why? What is the intention of reciting sutras? It looks like you recite sutras because people in the town may appreciate our practice. If so, that is not my way. We have to practice for our sake, not for others. If you can only chant sutras that is enough. There is no need to buy a bell so some others can hear it. That is not necessary,” he said. But we have some rules for chanting. Actually, without a bell it is not a perfect ceremony. But if our intention in chanting is not right, even though the form is perfect, it is not our way. There are rules, but actually there are no rules [laughs].

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-06-29 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.

Susan O'Connell at the bell with Blanche Hartman, Helen Tworkov and other Change Your Mind Day speakers, 1999.

Congratulations Nyoze Demian Kwong

On Saturday, September 2nd, Nyoze Demian Kwong stepped up on the mountain seat and became the new abbot of Genjoji, Sonoma Mt. ZC. Jakusho Bill Kwong, Nyoze's father has been the abbot since the temple's founding in 1973. Bill and his wife Laura were very early students of Shunryu Suzuki, having come to Sokoji, the old SF Zen Center temple, in 1960. When Suzuki died, he was working with Bill on his transmission. Later Jakusho received transmission from Suzuki's son Hoitsu.

Santa Rosa Press Democrat article



on Nyoze Kwong from the Genjoji site

Nyoze Demian Kwong received a B.A. in Anthropology/Archeology from University of California Santa Cruz. He worked as a fundraiser in Stanford University’s Engineering Department. In 1998 he lived and worked at Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico and studied socially engaged Buddhism with Joan Halifax-roshi and Bernie Glassman-roshi of the Zen Peacemaker Order for two and a half years.


Nyoze received lay precepts in 1987 at Sonoma Mountain Zen Center. In 2009 he was ordained as a novice monk by Jakusho Kwong-roshi. In 2012 Nyoze finished his formal training at Eiheiji, the oldest monastery and head temple of the Soto Zen School in Japan. He received Dharma transmission in November 2014 and completed zuisse at both Eiheiji and Sojiji Head Temples of Sotoshu (the Soto School of Zen) in June 2015. He is recognized by Sotoshu as a Kokusaifukyoshi (international zen teacher) in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki-roshi.

*******


Thanks JJ Wilson for alerting me about this. - DC




Saturday, September 2, 2023

Mistakes

Let’s understand how a teacher will point out some mistake of a student. The way how he points out a student’s mistake is very difficult. If a teacher understands something that his student did was a mistake, he is not a true teacher. He should understand on the other hand it is the expression of his student’s true nature, so we should respect it. If we respect our student’s true nature, we should be careful how to point it out.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-06-29 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.

Suzuki studied Zen under Ian Kishizawa Roshi for many years

RIP Paul Shippee


A dear friend has passed on. Paul had written me recently that he was dying so it wasn't a shock. I just received this email from his daughter Jennifer. 

***

Paul Shippee
DOB November 15, 1937
Passed August 31, 2023

Open Air Cremation at the Pyre Sunday September 3, 2023

Arrive at 6:30 AM
Fire Lighting at 7 AM

***

Paul Shippee moved to Crestone in 1999 and built his passive solar heated, rammed earth/straw bail home. He loved his community and over the years built many strong bonds of love and friendship. His passions were the Buddha Dharma, Non-Violent Communication (NVC), and Solar Energy. He loved the sun — both the physical sun and the sun of wisdom. He deeply cared for this world and always wanted to help make things better. He yearned for humanity to become enlightened, for us to learn how to live sustainably on the planet, and he was always seeking to connect with others on a deeper and more meaningful level. He was an engineer by training, but tirelessly sought to educate himself beyond the straight lines and neat calculations of the physical world. 

He was an early student of Suzuki Roshi’s, and spent two years at Tassahara, before meeting Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. He moved to Colorado in 1970 and helped establish Rocky Mountain Dharma Center (now Drala Mountain Center), was a founding faculty member during the first year of Naropa University, and had a solar energy business in Boulder called Colorado Sunworks. 

Paul passed peacefully at Kongtrul Rinpoche’s and his daughter Jennifer’s and home in Crestone on Thursday evening after a brief illness this summer. It was a full blue moon and Buddha Amitabha Day in the Tibetan Buddhist Calendar. 🙏🏽

He greatly appreciated CEOLP and the Open Air Cremation and attended many of them in the past. He said everyone would be invited to his!

***

I, DC, responded: My heartfelt condolences to you Jennifer. I'm a little teary-eyed now. Paul and I have kept up through the years quite a bit. I visited him when in Boulder then Crestone whenever I passed through. I was always impressed with where he put his energy, what he did, what he taught. 

Paul Shippee cuke page

Farewell Paul. Gya te gya te...

Friday, September 1, 2023

Both Sides

As long as you experience it in terms of a good stage or bad stage, a high or low stage, that is not perfect enlightenment. So we do not expect anything perfect, but we do not reject it. We always have it, but the ideal is ideal, and reality is reality, and in our practice we have to have both sides. This is the original nature of Buddhism.

—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-06-29 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.

Zentatsu Baker-roshi and Yamada Mumon-roshi - Tassajara 1973

More on the SFZC land sale to the Wliderness Land Trust

The land that the SFZC sold to the WLT is called the Pines. Bob and Anna Beck sold the Pines to the SFZC in the seventies when Richard Baker was abbot and Ed Sattizahn was president. Bob Beck sold the Horse Pasture to the WLT around 2006 or earlier. That was the last of the three parcels the Becks owned. I'd written Ed Sattizahn and asked what's this about ZC selling Church Creek and he explained it was the Pines. There's a map of these in-holdings on this page for Horse Pasture maps and photos. I wrote the WLT and asked why'd they call it Church Creek property? - DC

Yesterday's post with SF Chron article on the sale.