Eternal Teaching

Image from Amazon

When we become lazy, Buddhism looks like it will be no more. But when we are sincere, Buddhism will come out. Buddhism will be understood. You may say there is no more Buddhism in India or China or even in Japan, but Buddhism is eternal teaching.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

One by One

But Buddha said: I prepared everything for those who will understand me. And I saved all the people who were possible to save. And I prepared to save all people when the time comes. So, if one of his disciples understands him, it’s good enough. There is the possibility of saving all human beings if one of his disciples understands him. In this way, Buddhism has spread, one by one, little by little.

Photo by Anandajoti Bhikkhu in Tricycle

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Featured Cuke Archives page

This is a follow-up podcast with Robert Britton, Bob to me, in which he focuses, using his many decades of applying the Alexander technique to sitting. He was at the SF Zen Center for ten years. He became an Alexander teacher and still is. For 39 years he applied what he’d learned from the Alexander technique at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music helping musicians sit, hold and use their instruments so that they don’t create physical problems. He’s helped many people at Zen Center and beyond in how to sit, stand, walk in a healthy way. Learn about Bob Britton and sitting—and more—in this podcast with him.

Medicine

So, if you don’t understand what I mean by buddha-nature, I don’t mind at all [laughter]. Buddha said whether you take my medicine or not is not my responsibility. Just to talk about it—just to try to help people is my way. Whether or not you take it—it can’t be helped if you don’t take it. That is true.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Someday

What we are discussing here is not philosophy at all. If you understand what I say, I think it is possible to know what I mean by buddha-nature. It is possible because although my English is not good, I think I can express myself about buddha-nature in my poor English [laughs]. That is why I repeat the same thing over and over again. When I think you don’t understand, [laughs] I will repeat it until you understand it. If my words are not good enough, I will hit you [laughter]. Then you will understand what I mean. As long as I understand it, someday you will understand what I mean. If you don’t understand me just now, someday you will understand. Someday someone will understand. This is great patience. I think I will wait for an island to go to Seattle from Los Angeles [laughs]. They say it is moving like a boat in millions of years. By the time it reaches Seattle [laughs], someone will understand it.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Each Day

For Ryokan each day is a good day, and each day is a day of enlightenment. There is enlightenment on each day, on each practice you do, as long as you have a clear understanding of buddha-nature.

Image of Ryokan statue from Encyclopaedia Britannica

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

More Tassajara Stories from DC

   photo taken last week by Tomas Fricke

In this podcast posted a few days ago, DC (me) tells more Tassajara stories as an addendum to the Tuesday Dec. 9 SFZC Zoom event with Edward Brown answering participants questions we didn’t get to and elaborating as I do. Find link to Dec. 9 Zoom event, A Night of Tassajara Stories, at: cuke.com/TOC-DC.htm.

cuke.com podcast page

Remarkable Progress

Image generated by ChatGPT

Dogen Zenji says our practice is like going through fog. It is not like going out in a thunderstorm [laughs]. If you go out in heavy rain, your clothes will get wet all at once. You will be soaked, but a sudden rainstorm will not penetrate into your underwear. But when you walk through thick fog for a long time, even though you don’t realize it, your clothing is wet, and it will penetrate into your underwear. This is true practice. You don’t think you made any progress, [laughs] but you had remarkable progress, and someone who knows what real practice is will acknowledge it.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

This Kind of Spirit

We say you cannot plant any plants on a stone [laughs]. You should be like a stone. No good or evil can grow on buddha-nature. It is so hard and so strict. Good or bad is delusion. Any delusion can grow on your spirit. Or we say it is impossible to thrust a needle into iron. This kind of spirit is wanted when you practice our practice. Then little by little you will make progress.

Image generated by Leonardo.ai

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

As Much As You Can

So, our practice is the practice of accepting everything as it is and to do things as much as we can. Don’t be greedy about progress in your practice. If you can make progress, little by little, as much as you can, that is enough. But concerning the sense of buddha-nature, it should be very clear and strict.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Featured Cuke Archives page

Thanks to the San Francisco Zen Center for the online event, Dec. 9, 2025. In the follow up podcast David answers additional questions. Links at: cuke.com/TOC-DC.htm

Didn’t Mind At All

Do you know Ryokan? A famous Soto priest. He didn’t mind anything bad—it’s the secret of the Soto way. Concerning Soto practice, he was very strict, but [laughs] he didn’t mind whatever people said or whatever he himself felt. He didn’t mind at all. Even when he was sick, he didn’t mind. Even though people did not understand him, he did not mind at all. If someone asked if he was not serious, he didn’t mind. But when he thought someone was too serious or sincere, he minded very much. And if someone asked him what was the Soto way, he was very serious. He had a strict sense of buddha-nature, his buddha-nature was very, very sharp and strict. Because of that strictness, he could accept his poor and humble and unfortunate life. But he didn’t mind at all because he had a strict sense of buddha-nature.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Accept Something Intelligible

If you cannot accept something intelligible, you are still pursuing good or bad in a worldly sense, a scientific way, philosophical way, or ethical way. You are not pursuing religious practice.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

A Message from Paul Zengyu Discoe

Dear friends and fellow practitioners,

I have found myself on a five-acre farm on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, about 2,000 feet in elevation, surrounded by forest. The property is owned outright, and there is a small endowment to begin shaping the site and creating a place for practice.

The plan is to build a small practice center grounded in the teachings of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and Dōgen Zenji.

I would like to connect with practitioners interested in a way of life based on right livelihood and simple living, as an alternative to the frenzied spending and materialism that are damaging us and the planet. If this resonates with you, or with someone you know, please reach out to info@chopandcarry.org. 

With gratitude, 

Paul Zengyu Discoe

http://www.chopandcarry.org/

Paul's cuke page

Beyond Good or Bad

So, in our practice there is no evil or good. It is not a matter of evil or good. Both are good. There is no need to fight about it. Just let them come and let them go out. So-called evil or good are something which your small mind creates. For your true nature there is no good or bad. Your true nature is something which is beyond good or bad. It is valuable because it is beyond good and bad. It is valuable because you cannot figure out what it is.

Based on an image generated by Google Gemini

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

A Night of Tassajara Stories

Tuesday evening, Ed Brown and I, DC, were on a Zoom show hosted by the SF Zen Center. 

Here's the link to watch it - thanks to Zen Center's generosity.

Enjoy.

Ed Brown cuke page

A Practice of Big Mind

There is a big misunderstanding in our practice, I think. Most people have a misunderstanding that practice is some way we try to get out of evil. That if we train, eventually we will attain enlightenment, and we will be completely free from evil. This is the usual understanding. But that practice is small practice, not big practice, not pure practice. There is no big mind in that practice. So, to know what is true buddha-nature—what is true nature—being aware of it, and practicing as a practice of big mind is our true practice.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

“Ah, that’s good.”

So, the most important point is to acknowledge exactly what is buddha-nature. Buddha-nature is not small ego; it is big ego which is observing what you do and accepting what you do always. Whatever you do, it will say, “Ah, that’s good.” [Laughing.] “Nothing wrong with it.”

Image generated by Google Gemini

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

ED Brown and DC with Tassajara Stories December 9 on Zoom

A Night of Tassajara Stories with Ed Brown and me, DC--a San Francisco Zen Center online event

December 9th - 6 to 8pm California time. 

Here's the SFZC page for it with how to attend on Zoom

Don’t be attached even to the evil which is not here.

Dogen said, “Don’t be attached even to the evil which is not here. To attach to the evil which is not here means purity.” If there is no evil here, you are pure. But don’t be attached to even the state of mind you have in purity. And even though you are not pure, don’t try to escape from it. If you try to escape from it, it means you are attached to purity. A small ego is working still [laughs]. Your small ego is trying to push out an evil thought. So still you are occupied by small ego as long as you are trying to get out of it.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Beyond Intoxicating Liquor

Our buddha-nature should be beyond pure or impure. It means just to be aware of your true nature which is beyond pure or impure. To attach to purity is good, but buddha-nature is not pure or impure. If you understand this point, just to sit without thinking, without being bothered by something which will come. Even when you have something in your mind, don’t try to escape from it. Just sit. It will go. And you are beyond it. Those images come in and go out. This is so-called being beyond intoxicating liquor.

Image generated by Leonardo.ai

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Featured Cuke Archives page

Robert Britton, Bob to me, was at the SF Zen Center for ten years. He became an Alexander teacher and still is. For 39 years he applied what he’d learned from the Alexander method (if I can call it that) at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music helping musicians sit, hold and use their instruments so that they don’t create physical problems. He’s helped many people at Zen Center and beyond in how to sit, stand, walk in a healthy way. Learn about it in this podcast with him.

Don’t Attach to Purity or Impurity

When you sit, you say something occurred in your mind which is not so good. Some image came. Something covered your wisdom or buddha-nature. When you say so, you have the idea of clearness because you think you have to keep your mind clear of various images which will come to you. This is how you understand it, but Dogen Zenji says: Don’t even try to clear up your mind, even though you have something there. Don’t want to be pure. If you want to be pure, it means you have attached to purity. That is also not so good. Don’t attach to purity or impurity.

Image generated by Google Gemini

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Beverly (Horowitz) Armstrong new poem

 Soon Solstice by Beverly (Horowitz) Armstrong

Direct Experience of Buddha-nature

The purpose of practice is to have direct experience of buddha-nature. That is the purpose of our practice. So, whatever you do, it should be the direct experience of buddha-nature.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

At Each Moment

Drawing by Stan White

This is a very important point: to fight it out with the body [laughs], not with the mind, not by thinking, not by wandering about. To find something which we should do at each moment is the best way to raise our mind. To raise our mind means to realize big mind, not small mind. Small mind is wandering about. But for big mind there is no place or time to wander about. It is too big to wander about [laughs]. Too big. If you want to realize that imperturbability of your spirit, you have to raise your body. There is enlightenment.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-28-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Raise Your Body

There was a famous novelist, Toson Shimazaki. And in the opening page of a book he said, “If you want to raise your mind, you should raise your body.” I was very interested, and very much encouraged by his words when I was quite young. At that time, I couldn’t go to college because I had to help my master, and I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to go, [laughs] but I had to help him. So sometimes I did not know what to do. And when I read those two lines, “If you want to raise your mind, you should raise your body,” I knew that was why he went abroad. But I thought that is very good, so I must do something. If I thought, “What shall I do?” I would suffer more. So, I must work hard: cooking or cleaning or sweeping the garden. So, I stopped thinking about myself, and I worked and worked and worked. And that helped me very much.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-28-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Featured Cuke Archives page

Kirk Rhoads spent years at the SF Zen Center then moved to Yaizu Japan where Shunryu Suzuki’s home temple Rinsoin is located. In this podcast he talks about how his path led to Zen, his years at Zen Center and Japan where he became close with Hoitsu and Chitose Suzuki, and his return to America. He also talks about the Kent Rhoads Foundation which he founded in honor of his late brother. The purpose of it is to provide support so that more people can afford to attend Zen retreats and practice periods, a noble goal. See kentrhoadsfoundation.org.