Not Sport

Student: Well, in judo if you’re good you get a black belt, so— [laughter]. SR: No—Zen is not physical training. Zen is not sport [laughs, laughter].

Image generated by Leonardo.ai

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Teaching

Our teaching is not, “You should do like this,” or “Society should be like this,” or “Human beings should be like this.” We do not have this kind of thinking or idea. When we take off the cover, when we forget all about our teaching, that is heaven [laughs] for us. But it does not mean we do not want a cover. We want it. But when we enjoy Buddhism, there must not be any teaching.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Remember Eldon Pura?

 Jed Linde sent me this 2018 obituary for Eldon Pura who used to do electrical and heavy equipment work at Tassajara. He was a farmer in Greenfield too and students would go there and help him make wine including barefoot stomping on grapes. He'd just drive in sometimes and join us for lunch bringing a jug of his wine and have to be reminded we didn't drink alcohol. A great guy. This is all in the 2nd Tassajara Stories book.

Same Under Heaven

Everyone is the same under heaven. Everyone is the same in the common bathtub in Japan [laughing]. Do you know the Japanese common bath? There may be five or six people in a big bathtub. They’re enjoying it, washing and talking. It’s wonderful. That is our ideal. And even so, when we do not use the bathtub, we want a cover on it. When people get into it, we should take off the cover and enjoy the bath with people as friends. There is no rich person or poor person in the common bath when they are naked. And they can talk about anything in the common bathtub. Even so, when we do not use it, there should be a cover on 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-C 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.

No Secret

We cannot change someone’s character or what they did or will do. It is very difficult. But there is no need to change anyone. If they have right understanding of their character, that’s good enough. So as a conclusion: to put in a high place things we should put in a high place. Something which should be put in a low place should be put at a low place, that is our religion. There is no secret.

Image generated by Google Gemini

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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

Shinshu Roberts  was at the SFZC for years and 18 years ago founded the Ocean Gate Zen Center on 41st Avenue in Capitola next to Santa Cruz with her partner Jake Kinst. The website is oceangatezen.org. She recently published Meeting the Myriad Things: A Zen Practitioner’s Guide to Dogen’s Genjokoan. She worked for years on the Shunryu Suzuki archives. Hear about that and more in this podcast.

Wake Up!

The missionary spirit is not just to spread some teaching of Buddha or to force something on people or to do something in the name of the missionary work. That is not fair. When someone wants something, a teacher should be prepared to give something. And, if they are lazy, he should strike them [laughs]. That is all right. If he’s sleeping: “Don't sleep. Get up!” [Laughs.]

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Incessant Activity

A student asked: What happens if a person dies without realizing his buddha-nature? What happens to his buddha-nature? 

What happens to buddha-nature? Nothing happens to it. It is always the same and constant. Buddha-nature is always taking activity. It is in incessant activity. There are not two buddha-natures. There is only one buddha-nature for everyone, for everything. And it is always in incessant activity. Even when we are sleeping, it is in activity.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

The Religious Experience

If someone is great, if you have some good example, it will give you some encouragement. But just an intellectual correction will not help you so much. So, we say that is not enough. The religious experience is something more than that and something different, completely different from our intellect or emotional feeling. So, we should not ignore our intellect, but we should not be limited. Our faculties should not be limited to the emotional or intellectual realms.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Correction

Scientific research or intellectual understanding of religion is not always wrong. We have intellect to correct our emotional faculty, which is sometimes not so clear or correct. Some correction is wanted for the emotional functions of our mind, or else we won’t know whether what we feel is right or wrong. That is a characteristic of the emotional functions. It may be necessary to correct them so that we can rely on our emotional faculty. But even though intellectual understanding can correct our emotional faculty, that correction will not help much unless we realize the original—the true nature of ourselves.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Quite Different

To pursue beauty or truth or good is different from the pursuit of holy nature within ourselves. The way is different. But there is no conflict because the pursuit of truth or good or beauty is based on our inmost nature. There should not be a conflict, unless your conclusion invades religious feelings. As long as your pursuit is limited to your own way, there is no conflict. If science is just science, and if philosophers are just philosophers, and religious people accept the conclusions of scientists and philosophers, there is no conflict. And it should be so. Pursuit of knowledge and pursuit of holiness are quite different things.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

In Your Heart

It will easily become delusion—misunderstanding—if you attach to a statement. If you realize something in your heart, in your sight, “This is it,” that is the teaching. What I say is not [laughs]. It’s just a suggestion. “Have you something like this?” I say to you. And if you say, “Oh, yes, I have the same thing here,” that is true teaching. That is so-called enlightenment.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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

June Crow began her study and practice of Buddhism in l968 when she met Shunryu Suzuki. She was known as June Omura back then. I, DC, remember her from Tassajara in the early seventies. She met Chogyam Trungpa of the Tibetan Kagyu and Nyingma lineage at Tassajara and became his student and a meditation instructor and teacher with his group. She’s still actively teaching with it today, living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Trungpa moved his Shambhala center long ago. Hear about this and more in this podcast conversation with June and me.

Hint

Teaching is the teaching, period. Your conduct should not be based on just verbal teaching. Your inmost nature will tell you. That is true teaching. What I say is not true teaching. I just give you a hint, you know.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Your Own Idea

When you say something or when you try to figure out what our teaching is or what is our way, already there is some—your own idea is in it. In that case, it will not work [laughs].

Photo by Betty Warren

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Stop

Stop everything [laughs] —completely. Because we can stop it, because we do not even try to stop it—just to practice, you know. We don’t try to stop anything. We do not try to stop even. As long as you try to stop something, it will not work.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Karma

Our purpose of zazen is to get out of the usual understanding of creating or destroying, or this kind of scientific philosophical thinking. When we are free from this thinking, there is no creation and no destruction. We are always free from those defilements. And we know this is our true nature. When we know that there is no more continuity of karma, we can stop karma. Even for a moment you can do it.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Habits

The purpose of our practice is to cut down completely habitual power [laughs]. To be completely free from our habitual energy or whatever it is— habits—habitual power, which is so-called karma. At least we should know that we are intrinsically free from karma. Karma is something which we create—we create karma, and we suffer from it.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Hope

There must be some hope to live, some hope to be saved. Even though one admits to being sinful, they still have hope of being saved or else they cannot exist. At the same time, if one says, “For me, there is no sinful life. I am quite safe. Whatever I do, it’s all right.” That is also crazy. If you think after you’re enlightened you can do whatever you like, that is a big mistake [laughter].

Photo by Rowena Pattee (Kryder)

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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

Helena Bee has been in charge of online programs for the San Francisco Zen Center for four years. Her practice has been centered at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center since she first went with friends as a guest. This podcast is a conversation rather than an interview.

Sin and Enlightenment

Sin and enlightenment are the two sides of one coin. When you say you are sinful, you have enlightenment. Enlightened mind says you are sinful. The Pure Land sect emphasizes this. And they try to turn this side into the other side. That is possible because it is two sides of one coin. It is the same thing, actually the same thing.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Something Wrong

[Responding to a question about vegetarianism.] You know, not only animals [laughter], but the vegetables you eat are also living beings. This kind of discussion is not purely a religious discussion. But it is religious because if we do something wrong, that action will create another bad action or habit. This is a very important point. If you do something wrong, that experience will create some other bad conduct.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Anger

When you become angry, you should just be angry. That’s all [laughter]. Don’t criticize yourself, and you cannot be always angry, you know. When you notice it, that’s too late. So, it may be better to be angry. And after you realize that was a mistake [laughs], you have to try not to be angry again. If you think you should not be angry, it means you are caught by precepts. “You should not be angry,” is not a precept, actually. When you keep it, it is a precept, but when you violate it, that is not a precept anymore. That is just a mistake. So, we do not talk about anger which came up already. That anger is psychological anger, not religious anger. Religious anger is about before we become angry. So, if you are really religious, you have no anger and you keep the precepts.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

From Ignorance

Anger is one of the strongest evil desires—greediness and anger. But all those things come from ignorance. When we are ignorant of our true nature, we become angry. It is a want of subtle understanding. That is anger.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Not to Kill

This is maybe a pretty difficult question to answer, not to kill. Fundamentally, “not to kill” means not to be dualistic [laughs]. If I say so it may not be the right answer to your question. When we become dualistic, we have the precept not to kill. It means don’t kill. But actually, there is nothing to kill [laughs]. If everyone has buddha-nature, it is impossible to kill. You can kill someone’s body, but its true nature cannot be killed. So not to kill is not a matter of kill or not to kill. Even if you try to kill someone, it is impossible. If we know that it is impossible, no one will try to kill some other person. Because you think it is possible, you kill someone.

Image from Wikipedia

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Go Up, Go Down

It is to go up and to go down. That is a cosmic symbol [laughs]. Here we have a cosmic symbol. There is no Buddhism in this realm. So, we say, “Just sit. There is no Buddha and no good or bad.”

Image from: Google Gemini

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-B 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.

Tim Burkett and DC

Tim Burkett, very early Shunryu Suzuki student, and DC will be talking about early Tassajara Stories at the Minnesota Zen Center's upcoming Tuesday note talk for an hour. To join with Zoom go to https://www.mnzencenter.org/sundaytuesday-talks.html.

Tim Burkett cuke page

Talking

If someone is talking about Buddhism all night, drinking beer [laughs], smoking cigarettes, and says, “Oh, this is Buddhism. There is actually no such tradition of Buddhism.” That’s not Buddhism. Those who participate in cosmic self, self-use of cosmic existence, can deny Buddhism. For us there is no Buddhism, no particular Buddhism.

Image from: ChatGPT

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-B 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

Bob Halpern | Podcast - Bob Halpern began attending session at Sokoji with Shunryu Suzuki in 1965 while living in LA where he helped Taizan Maezumi get his zendo going. He and I were best friends and troublemakers at Tassajara and sometimes in the city. We went over all that thoroughly in a podcast years ago. In this podcast he tells about becoming a Chogyam Trungpa student in 1971 and being his first personal attendant. He brings us up to the present time where he finally calmed down and for twenty years has been running morning and early evening meditation for the Shambhala group in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Trungpa moved his center to in 1986.

No Buddhism

So, we religious people deny the existence of the teaching. I say there is no Buddhism actually. And those who believe in Buddhism will say there is no Buddhism. And it is true for us. But if a scientist says there is no Buddhism, that is a big mistake [laughter]. We can say there is no Buddhism. If some philosopher says: “Philosophy includes everything. We can establish the authority of human beings by ourselves without any god or religion,” that is a big, big mistake [laughs]. Only those who believe in our teaching can say there is no Buddhism. When there is no Buddhism, you attained enlightenment.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-B 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.

Find It?

Image generated by ChatGPT

Buddha’s actual teaching is nowhere. You cannot find it. Because you cannot find it, it is everywhere. If you say this is Buddha’s teaching, that is wrong. It should not be found [laughs]. If you think, “This is Buddha’s teaching, it’s his whole body or it’s a part of his body,” that is the wrong understanding. If the teaching is for some part of your body or life, that is not Buddha’s teaching. It covers everything. It should be so. You cannot find what it is because it is one with everything. If it is one with everything, how can you find it?

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-B 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 Cuke Archives

 Happy New Year to you and yours and all of us but especially to you.

Right Here

When you are old it’s not too late, but you will regret, “Why didn’t I realize this before?” It is not too late, but when you lose your present moment—I should say if you don’t work hard, it will be too late. You should never be too late or too early [laughter]. Truth is here, you know, right here. You should not be too late or too fast. Right here. It is written on your back [laughter]. All the scriptures are written on your back and front.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-B 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.