Resume

In our mind, there is no star, no earth, no sun -- nothing whatsoever. But everything comes out from that nothingness where there is nothing. So even though we pass awaym we die, if we know that all of us arise from this nothingness, to die is to come back [laughs] to the source of life. So for everything to appear means the possibility of resuming original state from where we appear.   ---------------------------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-12-05-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC - Many Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. Going slowly through Suzuki transcripts featuring whatever is next that seems okay.

Foreword to A Brief History of Tassajara

Foreword by DC to Marilyn McDonald's A Brief History of Tassajara

Proceeds from this book will go to Cuke Archives - as a good deal of Cuke funds went into making it available. It's the lead into a slowly expanding Tassajara History section on cuke.com.

Nothing Happens

I remember I said something, you know, very extraordinary [laughs]: Even though you die, nothing will happen [laughs]. Even though the earth is broken piece by piece, nothing will happen. If you practice zazen, your mind will resume where nothing happens,before anything happens.  ---------------------------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-12-05-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC - Many Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. Going slowly through Suzuki transcripts featuring whatever is next that seems okay.

Fundamental

The more you practice our way, the more your mind will resume your fundamental state -- big, 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 DC - Many Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. Going slowly through Suzuki transcripts featuring whatever is next that seems okay.

Continuing from yesterday's post

In this way the more your mind is particularized or crystallized, you will have at the same time more uneasiness. That is what will result by your effort in its ordinary sense, while zazen practice will not result in this kind of fear or attachment.   ---------------------------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-12-05-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC - Many Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. Going slowly through Suzuki transcripts featuring whatever is next that seems okay.

Crystallize

Before the concentration happens to you, your mind is just big and your mind is something which you don't know. You do not have any feeling about yourself. But once you are involved in something or you are concentrated on something, there your mind will crystallize, and you will have some clear idea of yourself-- subjectively and objectively.

particularize

In previous lecture, I compared zazen practice and usual everyday activity. In usual activity, as you know, our effort is directed to outside, and our activity is concentrated on some particular things. This activity of particularize something creates many things. But this kind of creativity at the same time creates some fear. This creativity will result in some feeling-- whether it is good or bad.  ---------------------------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-12-05-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC - Many Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. Going slowly through Suzuki transcripts featuring whatever is next that seems okay.

Various Ways

We should not be involved always in just one-sided way of appreciating our life. Sometime positive, sometime negative. So in this sense we should practice our way in various way -- observing ceremonies and not observing ceremonies by just sitting. This is how our way should be.  ---------------------------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-12-04-B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC - Many Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. Going slowly through Suzuki transcripts featuring whatever is next that seems okay.

Brian Unger's Novel is available

Cuke page for The Rincon Notebooks by Brian Unger

Brian Unger cuke page

Both Sides

We human beings understand things from various angles -- mainly from positive side and negative side. And when we observe things from both sides -- when we are able to appreciate things from both sides, one by one, there we have true way of life and true practice.  ---------------------------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-12-04-B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC - Many Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. Going slowly through Suzuki transcripts featuring whatever is next that seems okay.