All Activity

Image generated by ChatGPT

Self is not my mind or not even mind. Self-use of one activity. Everything works as one—all activity including the sun and the moon and us, mind and body and everything. That is what we mean by religious function. If that’s so, you cannot figure it out by your small mind.

—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.

No!

Drawing by Stan White

So, if you say, “I attained enlightenment. I know what Buddhism is,” then we will open your book and say, “Oh, [laughs] this is your enlightenment.” If you say, “This is it,” then I will say that is not good [laughs], even though I don’t know what is written in the book. I can just ask you, “Is this what you meant?” And if you say, “This is it,” I will say, “No!” [laughter].

—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

Gerald Weischede was one of Richard Baker’s first German students. They met in Germany at a workshop that Baker was giving. Gerald went to Santa Fe to study with Baker when he had his center there and later, with the help of his wife Gisela helped Baker get Crestone Zen Mt. Center going. He was the first director and first shuso. He and Gisela for 20 years have led a Zen community called Lebendiges Zen in Göttingen, Germany. He’s also a psychotherapist and teaches in a university and has published five books. In this podcast  he talks about all this and more.

Mental Functions

If you only study ethics, you will not be helped by ethics. That is a kind of study where you can write something interesting, but it is just to read, not actually to help yourself. You will be interested in it, that’s all. And after you know that, you may ask, “So what?” [Laughs.] If a philosopher says something, you may say, “And what is it for?” Buddhism says, “All the so-called mental functions, whatever they are, are not true functions of religion. They are functions of small mind, not functions of big mind.”

Image generated by Leonardo.ai

—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.

Not Enough

Pursuit for truth: that is science, pure science. Pursuit for good: that is ethics. Pursuit for beauty: that is aesthetics. There is no other culture for human beings. But then what is religious tradition? What is the religious function of our mind? The religious function is supposed to be the combination of the three. When those three functions get together and work on something, that is the religious function of our mind. If one particular function of mind works, that is science or ethics or aesthetics. If the three functions work together that is the holy function of our mind. That is a Western interpretation of human culture, and that there are no other functions of our mind. But [laughs] for Buddhism that is not enough.

—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.

Impossible

I think you are trying to figure out what buddha-nature is. Because I did not explain what it is, but I just pointed out: “This is buddha-nature.” But I didn't say what it is. That is buddha-nature, you know. Something like buddha-nature is impossible to understand in a psychological or philosophical or scientific way. You cannot understand in this way.

—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.

Merry Christmas etc.

Merry Christmas, a national holiday in Indonesia, and other rites to acknowledge like solstice which just passed. The longest day of the year in Bali is about 23 minutes longer than the shortest day in June. And yet the weather is decidedly cooler May through September, especially in July and August. 

Here's a photo of our Christmas tree - orchids in a wrought iron 7 pot holder - hidden by Katrinka, me, and dogette Bandi.

Blessings to you and all beings.

David and Katrinka - and Bandi

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.