River

When our mind is river, the whole world is river. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-03-22 about Joshu's koan Mu - from Tony Artino notes. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts

Soberanes Fire is Dying

Here's how a post from a few hours ago on the Tassajara Facebook page starts: SOBERANES FIRE UPDATE as of 9/29. Dear Sangha -- We have good news. The likelihood of the fire coming to Tassajara has now been designated as very low, and the fire is 92% contained. For that reason, Tassajara practice period students will be returning to the monastery this weekend to help with a short work period. The Winter Practice Period will start on October 15th led by Central Abbess Linda Ruth Cutts. 

cuke page for the Soberanes Fire with links up top to other sources of info.

A short documentary called SIT

Featuring Shohaku Okumura, his wife, and son. The focus is on dealing with a son who's having a hard time figuring out what to do.

Youtube link to this film

Published on Sep 2, 2016

A film about purpose in life, seen through the eyes of a Buddhist monk and his son.
Director//Yoko Okumura - yok ofilm.com
Producer//Christopher Ruiz

I'd say through the eyes of the whole family. High production quality. Neat flick. - dc

Check out Yoko Film dot com and read the bio. Impressive. (Elin and I met the whole family in 1991 at their home and zendo outside of Kyoto. Kudos to them all. - dc)

Tricycle page for this film

On Shohaku:

Sanshin Zen Community

Shohaku Okumura Wikipedia page

The Buddha has moved to Bloomington; and I will follow him - posted on cuke 13 years ago.

cuke the arts film page (which is rarely invoked)

thanks Jim Richardson

Mountains

In Zen practice, mountains are not “over there,” but instead are here within our mind. If we pursue such practice continuously, action and non-action are not distinct phenomena.    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-03-22 about Joshu's koan Mu - from Tony Artino notes. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts

Death

Though most people desire birth and avoid death, if death is included in our non-dualistic body-mind, then it cannot be an outside occurrence which we need fear. Death is not something outside of us.    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-03-22 about Joshu's koan Mu - from Tony Artino notes. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts

Soberanes Fire reminder

Maybe the backfire has started from Tassajara already. Get updates at these links:

Frequent updates at:

Tassajara ZMC - Facebook page

Big Sur Kate Blog

Cal Fire dot gov - search for Soberanes in the searchbox up top for many links.

US Forest Service Soberanes Fire page

cuke page for the Soberanes Fire

That's an infrared of the fire off of Big Sur Kate Blog

Awreness

Awareness of body-mind means that sounds, for example, arise from within the mind where there is no duality. Body-mind arises when practice is within yourself. Zen conduct is occurring when there is no duality.     ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-03-22 about Joshu's koan Mu - from Tony Artino notes. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts

Jerry Halpern

Jerry Halpern has contributed some comments, info, and material to cuke and added a couple of entries today and consolodated his material and links to it on a people page for Jerry. Check it out.

Jerry in 1970 at Tassajara from the outtakes of a film, 

Activity

When we are reading or thinking, our minds are not as full of activity. When we are involved in physical activity, then the mind is at full operation -- it is open. When we are thus attentive and one with our activity, we can deepen our understanding. When we practice this way, everything that happens is within our mind and everything we are involved in is the content of our practice.    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-03-22 about Joshu's koan Mu - from Tony Artino notes. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts.

Earlist Tassajara area fire history

Reading about Church Creek Ranch history at the Ventana Wild site the other day came upon this bit of fire history and added it to the Tassajara Fire History page :

In June of 1902 The Caves ranch house was destroyed by fire. The following report about the particulars of the event is from Eleanor Chew's "Jamesburg Gleanings" column in the June 19th edition of the Salinas Weekly Index:

The home of Andrew Church at the Caves was totally destroyed by fire last Thursday morning about four o'clock. Mr. Church arose early, built a fire in the kitchen stove and without awakening the other inmate of the house, went to the dairy to skim milk; in a few minutes he observed smoke and rushed to the house calling to his family to get up; the flames spread so rapidly that they could not dress themselves but were obliged to run out in their night clothes to save themselves. It was impossible to save anything from the burning building and their entire supply of provisions, clothing and household goods was destroyed. There was no insurance. Mrs. Church, who has a young babe only two weeks old, was compelled to ride on horseback to the home of her brother Frank Bruce. The fire is supposed to have caught from the stove-pipe.

lunch and dinner

Katrinka's in the States for a month so the variety of the meals has gone down but fortunately I love brown rice and we have a rice cooker. Soaked some non GMO soybeans and cooked them. Had them both for dinner last night plus some olive oil and gomashio on the rice and tahini and soy sauce with the beans, A little local water spinach cooked in a pan with a little water, some coconut water and almond milk mixed. What a meal. Bananas with cashew butter for breakfast then for lunch, more rice and soy - cold out of the fridge (heat it in body) with the same additions. Almost time for dinner. Let's see, how about some more brown rice and soybeans with water spinach? Will repeat till it's all gone. 

Inward

Awareness means that when reading, your mind should not get caught by any idea. It should remain open. Similarly with sights and sounds, don't allow your mind's self-awareness to get lost or absorbed. In other words, always remain conscious of what you are doing, of what is going on. In all our activities we should have inward eyes.    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-03-22 about Joshu's koan Mu - from Tony Artino notes. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts.

Tumeric and Jamu

Tumeric, kunyit in Indonesian, is one of the herbs and spices I've gotten into here. I grate a tiny amount in with the mix for morning chai and a whole finger of it for an evening drink with hibiscus called rosela here. First got into it when a restaurant we went to featured jamu, a popular Indonesian drink, or tumeric tonis as another place calls it - cold or hot. Here's a page by a tumeric true believer. I'm skeptical of all these claims but I've made sure there's some oil with it since reading this - almond milk or coconut oil. And here's Cafe Jamu with how to make that drink. I usually add ginger but need to start including tamarind with it. - thanks Katrinka

Way

Awareness of Buddha nature or the solution to mu are not our only problems. So there is no need to be narrowly over-concerned with what Buddha nature refers to. You should not strain too hard to know what Zen is. One cannot study Zen in the usual manner. The way to study Zen is to be always aware of yourself, to be careful, to be sincere with yourself.    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-03-22 about Joshu's koan Mu - from Tony Artino notes. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts.

5 Student Films from SFSU

Just made a Youtube playlist for the five student films from San Franciso State University Cinema Dept. working with the SFZC, mainly Michael Wenger. That was in 1998. They used footage from existing footage mixing in new film, photos, Shunryu Suzuki lecture, and other audio.Also just replaced the ones on shunryusuzuki.com in the video section with better quality video. But Youtube is more user friendly. Two feature Suzuki lecture audio. The other three feature Jakusho Bill Kwong, Shinko Laura Kwong, and Yvonne Rand, each speaking on an aspect of Shunryu Suzuki. - dc

If there's no wind that is

Everyone knows that Buddha nature is everywhere and includes everything. But if we all are Buddha, why practice zazen? Consider the air - it too is everywhere, but until we use a fan, we are not aware of it. Zazen may be likened to the fanning.    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-03-22 about Joshu's koan Mu - from Tony Artino notes. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts.]

Reflecting

In reflecting on our problems, we should include ourselves together with the problems. Then we are reflecting from the perspective of the world of consciousness.    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-03-12 from Tony Artino notes. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts.] 

Bathtubs in Bali

We rarely see a bathtub. There are some nice showers here, however. The one in the photo is a couples' shower off Trip Advisor, not ours. I took a hot bath in a large tub in Germany almost every night. Not many bathtubs in lots of Asia. Japan of course has the best tubs where one sits rather than lie. I wonder about Korea. Can't remember. Not in India even in some nice homes I was in but it's a big complex place and I just experienced a millionth of it.

Deplorable

I thought about that deplorable thing and sent this to some people connected to the campaign.

Putting it in Christian terms.

People are not deplorable. If they are, then I am a deplorable. It is deplorable to say that people are deplorable. However, one may correct oneself saying they were passionate about this and what they meant was that there are deplorable beliefs, attitudes, prejudices, statements, actions. In the spirit of Martin Luther King, and as Hillary Clinton has referenced, we are commanded by Jesus to love everyone. But we are all sinners in that a sin is a harmful mistake. We forgive the sinner but we do not ignore the deplorable.

Trying to do as little harm as possible,


dc

Sound

In the world of consciousness, sounds and sights are meaningless. You may have already experienced such sounds while practicing zazen. Sometimes a noise occurs and we immediately think “car motor.” But sometimes we are only conscious of sound. That is all. The world of consciousness thus includes the opposites of the world of thinking.   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-03-12 from Tony Artino notes. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts.] 

Larger

Viewed from the world of consciousness, we as subjects, as buddha-minds, include our objective world and our problems. Our problems are then no longer external, and cease to be problems in the usual sense. Hence the wisdom in accepting or yielding. Neither do we lose ourselves in our problems or in our world of objects because we are larger than them.   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-03-12 from Tony Artino notes. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts.] 

Shocking

Just got a heck of 220 shock from the long extension cord. I plugged it in in the bedroom to watch a Narcos on laptop in bed, picked up the end with the power strip, and the next thing I knew was being shot into outer space. And like I've experienced in emergencies, time was super slowed enough I could wonder what was happening and then realized I was getting shocked. I instinctively yelled. You know how it's said you can't let go when you're getting shocked? I remember hoping it would fall out of my hands because I wasn't connected anymore there. It did fall.

Assimilated

In the world of thinking, subject and object are two, are separate, and act thus upon one another. In the world of consciousness the subject and object are assimilated.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-03-12 from Tony Artino notes. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts.] 

Hooray for them

Forest-burning is a sin says Indonesian Islamic council

Observation

The Buddhist way of understanding phenomena is by accurate unbiased observation followed by reflection of a similar nature.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-03-12 from Tony Artino notes. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts.] 

David Schneider's bio of Whalen review in Tricycle Magazine

Review of Crowded by Beauty: the Life and Zen of Poet Philip Whalen by Andrew Schelling

- I put a note in the comments of that review that Richard Baker resigned, SFZC board didn't vote him out. - dc

David Schneider cuke page

Philip Whalen cuke page

Label

Phenomena in the world of thinking are constantly being named or labeled by our minds as we experience these phenomena. The world of consciousness-mind does not label or name, it only reflects.    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-03-12 from Tony Artino notes. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts.] 

Soberanes Fire

Frequent updates at:

Tassajara ZMC - Facebook page
photo one of many from here

Big Sur Kate Blog

Cal Fire dot gov - search for Soberanes in the searchbox up top for many links.

US Forest Service Soberanes Fire page - thanks John Steiner for this one

cuke page for this fire

Farewell Pauline

Just learned Pauline died last summer. RIP dearest Pauline Bryan, wife of Peyton, gracious and fun Jamesburg host for many of us like Issan and Shunko loved going there. Pauline was Joan Baez's sister and most musical herself. With Richard Farina she co-authored the great song Pack Up Your Sorrows that he and Pauline's other sister Mimi recorded.

Go to this book on Baez and others and search for Pauline

Pack Up Your Sorrows - playing it for you Pauline. And condolences to wonderful Peyton.

Worlds

The world of thinking is that of our ordinary mind. The world of consciousness is that of buddha-mind.      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-03-12 from Tony Artino notes. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts.] 

Shunryu Suzuki at the Human Be-in

Three photos by Lisa Law and more on this historic (to many of us) event.

The photo on the left has been used on the cuke Brief Memories page for years with credit to Lisa Law. The other two were new to me. Thanks to Dennis McNally for sending these and for getting permission from Lisa Law to post them. More on her at the above link too. - dc

Middle

We should sit in the middle of our problems.      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-03-12 from Tony Artino notes. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts.] 

Citizens Summit 2016

Citizen's Summit 2016  John Steiner's latest project to bring people together. John's been a peace activist since 1964. I call him an inner and outer peace activist. Always sympathetic with other views and working to get people to listen to each other. From his cuke interview:

In 66 when I was a city planning student at UCB. I was in on the first anti-war stuff - the Navy recruiting table incident. I was involved with Mario Savio and some others and everyone was at an impasse and I had a vision of bringing the various parties together and I got the administration, faculty and several factions of students to agree to a live round table discussion of issues on KQED. I did it solo. All agreed but then the administration started to have second thoughts and pulled out and then some of the faculty people pulled out. I realized then that I didn't have the personal power and integrity to be able to manifest my vision. A half year later I was at Zen Center. In my time there, especially the three years at Tassajara, I learned to listen to my inner voice. 

John Steiner cuke page

Angry

You should not say, ‘You made me angry-- (laughter) That is too much. “Oh, I am sorry. I am so angry with you.” There is no need to say ‘I am not angry’. You should say, “I am angry”. That is our way.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-02-02. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts.]

Be careful what you say

or think Buddhism is. (on Lion's Roar) - thanks Tony Patchell - Not saying I agree with all of this or not but it does remind to be careful what we say - or believe. - dc

Sobranes Fire Update

Tassajara ZMC - Facebook page

and just discovered this:

Tassajara Jamesburg Cachagua Community News - Facebook page


cuke page for this fire

Don't usually post on Sunday.

Concentrated

When we study Buddha’s word in its exact sense it means to study Buddha’s word through some occasion you face moment after moment. So we should be concentrated on what we do and we should be faithful subjectively and objectively to ourselves and especially to our feeling. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-02-02. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts.]

Ocean Cleanup Attempt

Good luck to these folks - thanks Gregory

And may there be aggressive government sponsored education and laws and rules to stop so many people in the world from thinking the ocean is a handy garbage can - and then there's the air and the land. - dc

Study

 What we can study in its exact sense is what we do in each moment. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-02-02. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts.]

Haiku Zendo Ho To Newsletters

Ho To Newsletters from the Haiku Zendo, teachers Shunryu Suzuki and Kobun Chino (that's his calligraphy) - original home of Los Altos Kannon-do whose abbot is Les Kaye.  - thanks Jerry Halpern who scanned all this material

From the Santa Cruz special edition of the Ho To Newsletter

Student: What does 'Gate gate para gate parasamgate bodhi svaha mean? [the mantra at the end of the Heart Sutra]

Kobun: It doesn’t mean anything actually. Everything is falling apart. 'Fall apart. Fall apart. All together fall apart. We can’t do anything about it.' That's what Gate gate means really! There is nothing to hang onto. - thanks Michael Katz

Reality

Our teaching is not just art of life, art of living. In short, our teaching is to live always in reality in its exact sense, and to make effort on each moment in what we do.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-02-02. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts.]

Marian Derby Mountain Wisberg with Suzuki in 1964 & Two cards she sent

Two cards sent to DC in 1994 and 2010. Read to audio file in 2011 from card and letter from Marian and transcribed in August, 2016. 

Photo of Marian with Shunryu Suzuki at her home in Los Altos in 1964. It's SRC0007 in the photo archive on shunryusuzuki.com with the following note: 

At or near her Los Altos Hills home which became the Haiku Zendo. Identified by Jerry Halpern who also noted, "Marian did have a Samoyod type dog like the one pictured."

Go to Marian's cuke page to see this photo larger after clicking on the thumbnail for it.

Soberanes Fire near Tassajara

Tassajara Zen Facebook page updates on the 5th.

Big Sur Kate has an update from the 6th.

Monterey NPR radio station KAZU has a nice report from the 1st. - thanks Katrinka

cuke page for this fire

Express

To express yourself quite freely is the most important thing to make you happy and to make others happy.  And how we acquire this kind of ability is why we practice zazen.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-02-02. Edited by DC - Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. - Go to cuke.com Wha at's New (now at blogger) to see more daily posts.]