“I”

So, when we say “form,” period, that is all. When we say “emptiness,” that is all. There is no comment. “I,” that’s all [laughs]. No “you.” When I say “you,” that’s all. No “I.” It is not after communicating “I” and “you,” true intimate understanding between us. When I become just “I,” you become “me.” When you become just “you,” I become “you.”

Photo by Paul Kagan

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-01-21-BN 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.

Stone

You can get rid of the idea of emptiness too. So, it means to have direct experience of your life, without having an idea of “no” or “yes.” This point is very important. When you become you through and through—we say, when stone is stone through and through, that is real stone. That is not just stone.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-01-21-BN 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.

Persimmons

[Referring to the concept of detachment] If you put a notice on a persimmon tree, people will be interested in that tree, and they will try the fruit to see if it is sweet or not. So, the best way is not to say anything about the trees [laughs]. Then no one will come. No one will be interested [laughter]. If it’s said this is sweet or bitter, you will be interested in that.

Image by © Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-01-21-BN 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

https://cuke.com/f

Form Is Emptiness

When we say, “form is emptiness,” I think you understand that. You may understand form is emptiness, means detachment. If form is emptiness, we should not be attached to any certain form. That is true. But you have the idea of detachment, you know [laughs], so that bothers your true understanding of detachment.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-01-21-BN 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 That Moment

In this sutra it says, “form is emptiness and emptiness is form.” And “sensation, thought, and our active substance, our consciousness also are emptiness.” It means we have to have actual understanding of our forms and sensations, and thought, and consciousness. It means we must have true practice, and we have to find the reality in the various activities of our mind, and in our physical activity. Whatever we do, at that moment, we should realize our way.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-01-21-BN 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.

City Center Event

Book Reading of Return to Our Senses: A Path to Stability in an Unstable World

by Lee Klinger Lesser

at City Center

October 16, 2026 / 6:30pm - 8:30pm

Return to Our Senses offers a life-changing invitation to come home to what is most reliable and intimate: our direct, embodied experience. In a time marked by turbulence, speed, and chronic uncertainty, this book presents the somatic mindfulness practice of Sensory Awareness as a practical and deeply humane antidote to disconnection and overwhelm. This evening will include readings, stories, and an opportunity to practice together. This is a free public event.

https://www.sfzc.org/calendar/events/city-center/book-reading-return-our-senses-path-stability-unstable-world-cc-1016

Return to Our Senses: A Path to Stability in an Unstable World - on Amazon.

Spirit

You should have transmitted spirit from Buddha because you cannot understand your practice just by sutras or teaching. Without the spirit to continue your effort, you cannot be a Buddhist.

Marcus Hartsfield

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-01-21-BN 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 of Those Experiences

How we practice zazen, how we study Zen is by finding our own practice under various circumstances. So sometimes we will have difficulties, sometimes we will have joy of practice, but each of those experiences is Zen practice.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-01-21-BN 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.

Merit

Actually, there is no need to talk about the merit of Zen practice. Talking about the merit of Zen would encourage the wrong understanding of practice. When you do it—just do it—you have enlightenment.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 66-01-21-BN 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.