Stage

Buddhism is not any special teaching, and enlightenment is not any particular stage that you attain. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-23- 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, not just the super cool ones.

Puerto Rico

I posted about the volcano here in Bali because I get emails asking about it and our situation and so forth and so I mention refugees from near the mountain and other details. But it's just news and I'm not really making an appeal for Balinese who aren't in their homes now. The infrastructure here is not so bad and Balanese tend to take care of each other and nothing is devastated now and there are a zillion foreigners who care about Bali, who come here now and then. I'd say that Puerto Rico is in dire need of help right now, not Bali. 

Mt. Agung close to an eruption

Every day we hear an eruption is more likely - from the news and expat sources. Just read this in the Star Online, a Malaysian news service. We're around a lot of locals, more than usual these days because we just moved into a new home and there's a lot of work going on but none of them seem to pay any attention to it. But that's because we're 38 miles from the volcano here. About 150,000 people have left their homes, more than half of them outside the evacuation zone. Katrinka and I decided to be better prepared for possible disruption in services. We've got a water filter and have been storing extra drinking water in containers. Filled a 30 gallon can in the courtyard. Bought two little burners with gas canisters - like you'd take camping, got a bunch of canned and packaged food. All of that is highly unlikely to be necessary but it gives us peace of mind and it's fun. If it does erupt the main danger likely is ash and that means staying inside. Meanwhile there's so much going on at home that we forget what's happening aside from putting stuff here and there, installing fans, and screens doors and so forth. - dc

Conclusion of lecture at Tassajara

A monastery is not some particular place. Whether you can make Tassajara a monastery or not is up to you. It may be even worse than city life even though you are in Tassajara. But when you have the wisdom of the Prajnaparamita Sutra, even though you are in San Francisco, that is the perfect monastery. This point should be fully understood. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-21- 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, not just the super cool ones.

Still speaking on the Genjo Koan.

Just now we are talking about our teaching, but it is not only our Buddhist teaching. Even near at hand, events will tell you this truth. When your understanding reaches as far as this, you may say your are studying Buddhism, and you work on your everyday life accordingly. Whatever you do, that is the practice. Whenever you do not feel good in your work, you must think this truth. At the time, you may not feel so good, but that is not all. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-21- 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, not just the super cool ones.

Kodo Arts in Nevada City

for their yearly sale. Check out their website and say hello to old buddies Jake and Yuko.

Describe

Whatever you may say, no matter how beautifully you describe this world, that is not all. That is the description as far as you can describe it. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-21- 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, not just the super cool ones.

Mount Agung Refugees Appeal

As you may have noticed in the news, Agung, Bali's highest mountain, is a volcano which is on the edge of having an eruption and so far about 15,000 people have been evacuated. Katrinka made a contribution instead of a planned outing with friends in the Bali International Women's Association which is keeping an eye on the humanitarian angle. Here's how you too can help. It's run by the East Bali Poverty Project and looks quite legit. That's where the poorest people in Bali live - a lot of them are mainly off the grid. - dc

Enough

Enlightenment after enlightenment we should practice our way. So you feel that something is not enough. Even though you feel good, even though you feel that you had enlightenment, that is not enough. When you feel this way, that is true enlightenment. But when you think you have had enough, that is not true enlightenment. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-21- 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, not just the super cool ones

Special

You may think there exists, or you may always seek for, an enlightenment which is some special experience, where you have no problems, where you will get rid of all vicious habits. Once you have attained enlightenment, you will not drink any more sake. That may be the kind of enlightenment you are seeking. But actually, if you like sake, even though you gain enlightenment, you will have a hard time getting past the store where sake is sold. Things will still happen to you even though you attain enlightenment. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-21- 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, not just the super cool ones

Advice to students at Tassajara 1st practice period still lecturing on Genjo Koan

We should work within our responsibilities; we should not invade someone else's responsibility. This is also the teaching of “form is emptiness and emptiness is form.” We are working on something right now, and we do not know what we will work on tomorrow. But right now, what you are working on is your practice, and when you work, just work in your position. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-21- 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, not just the super cool ones

Bali volcano on highest alert

BBC reports

Mt. Agung is 63 kilometers or 38 miles from our new home. Couple hundred thousand are urged to get further away. - dc

Work

The work you do should be done with your very best effort and to the best of your ability. But you should not be too attached or take pride in your ability. Forgetting all about your ability and the result of your effort, you should still do your best in your work. This is how you work in a monastery as a part of practice. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-21- 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, not just the super cool ones

Independent

When we attain enlightenment, all the patriarchs attain enlightenment at the same time. You cannot say Buddha is before and we are after. When you understand enlightenment, you are independent from everything; you have your own past and future, as Buddha had his own past and future. And his position is independent, as your position is independent. If so, this realization is beyond time and space. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-20- 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, not just the super cool ones

Condition

But you should appreciate, moment after moment, what you are doing right now under some condition. First of all, you must know under which condition you actually are. This is very important. If you are a teacher, you should behave like a teacher; when you are a student, you should behave like a student. So first of all you should know what your position is, or else realization of the truth will not happen to you. This is how we should understand our way. To realize our position and find ourselves is the way. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-20- 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, not just the super cool ones

Limitation

Perfect freedom will only be acquired under some limitation. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-20- 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, not just the super cool ones

More Genjo Koan comment

So when we come to the understanding of, “Form is form and emptiness is emptiness,” there is no problem. This stage, or this understanding, is what Dogen Zenji means by, “When the moon is in the water, the water will not be broken, nor will the moon be wet.” Moon is moon, and water is water. This is “form is form, emptiness is emptiness.” But here there is the possibility of the misunderstanding that there is no need to practice Zen. “Form is form, and emptiness is emptiness. If this is true, why do we practice zazen?” You will have this kind of misunderstanding. But each of the four statements also includes the other three, so there are four ways of understanding each statement. If it is not so, it is not true understanding. So all four statements are actually the same. Whether you say form is form or emptiness is emptiness, or form is emptiness, or emptiness is form, one statement is enough for you. This is true understanding of Prajnaparamita. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-20- 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, not just the super cool ones

Moving

We're moving out of our apartment of three years today to a home a few kilometers away still in Sanur and a short walk to the beach. Just paid two years rent on it at $375 a month. Pardon the tasteless mention of filthy luchre but it's a big part of why we're here. - dc

Speaking on the Genjo Koan

“Emptiness is form” is rather difficult to understand. Emptiness which is the absolute goal we will attain, which is enlightenment itself, is form. So whatever you do is enlightenment itself. This is rather difficult to understand, or to accept, because you think emptiness is some unusual thing. Something unusual is something very common. This is rather difficult to understand, especially when you practice zazen. Even though your practice is not perfect, that is enlightenment. This statement is very difficult to accept. “No, my practice is not perfect.” But when we understand form is emptiness, and emptiness is form, back and forth in this way, and form is form, and emptiness is emptiness, when emptiness comes, everything is emptiness, and when form comes, form is form, and we accept things as it is. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-20- 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, not just the super cool ones

Boiler plate

There is no special self nature for anything, and everything is changing. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-20- 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, not just the super cool ones

Indonesia raises alert level for Bali volcano

Mt. Agung is showing signs of waking up. Agung means highest and that's what it is here. It's a whole 58 kilometers from Sanur where we live. That's 36 miles. Down boy. Back to sleep.

Why

You should not be lost in suffering. That is why we study Buddhism. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-14- 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, not just the super cool ones

Getting up and Moving

at least every thirty minutes and you'll live longer - from this article on BBC site. This isn't new information. Good to repeat. Ariana Huffington has made this one of her causes. But what I always wonder is what about is what about ones posture when sitting. I sit much more with legs up, some in half lotus for zazen but mainly taylor style or comfortably crossed in several ways including an occasional one leg down for I mainly sit with legs up on something where I can put my legs down when I want. I like the Japanese horigotatsu where one sits on cushions on the floor but can drop the legs into a hole under the table (horu, to dig, plus kotatsu, the low table).  I do a little seiza now and then or sitting on the shins and have had to do way more of that "correct sitting" than I wanted to.

Tassajara Historical Documents - pre SFZC

Click here. Not as interesting as the photos of course.

Sure

But you are quite sure about the logical conceptions you have, so your study will create a bigger and bigger ego. And as soon as you have some terminological conception, you will put it into action. Now you have to fight with each other. We call this karmic action. “Oh my! What I think should be right. But see what has happened to me. This is awful,” you may say. You are creating suffering in this process, according to Buddhism. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-14- 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, not just the super cool ones

Shadow

When you study logic, you think you have no attachment. But it is like mathematics. When you actually apply the mathematics in your everyday life, attachment is always involved. Big or small, good or bad, heavy or light-- this is not pure mathematics. Pure mathematics is very abstract and doesn't actually exist. But this is a shadow of your attachment, a shadow of your mistake. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-14- 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, not just the super cool ones

Many more historical photos of Tassajara

Just click here to see them - with names and dates where possible.

Terminological

As soon as you have the idea of continuity of your mind, you will have some attachment to what you observe, and then you will have terminology-- terminological conception. You will start to think in terms of concepts. You put labels on the many conceptions you create, but those conceptions are involved in attachment. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-14- 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, not just the super cool ones

Oft Quoted Phrase

Decarte's "I think therefore I am" is one way to look at it but the Hindu and Buddhist way that I've gathered is just "I am"  with the "I" not standing for a separate being but our door to the absolute or whatever. The Advaita Vedanta folks especially emphasize that all beings have the sense of I am and that it is pre thought. Ramana Maharshi said that the an ultimate spiritual statement was the Bible's famous "I am that I am" which god says but god of course is not someone else and not even every man but every sentient being. - dc 

Houston Hurricane victim Dharma Friend needs help

Jamie Avera organized a fundraiser for his relatives who are victims of Hurricane Harvey in Houston. He's a longtime supporter of Cuke Archives - from the first year - helping with web design, suggestions, and financial contributions which now are monthly. Now he and his loved ones need help. I always prefer to give to individuals with ties rather than institutions. Please send a little something you can afford to help them meet their modest goal. Here's the link to a YouCaring crowdfunding page he set up.
Thanks.- DC

72 Years Ago Today

the Tassajara hotel burned down. Here's a page with photos and info on that fire. Folks there are standing where the shops are now.

Fixed some glitches on this the next day. - dc

More Than

Our mind is not continuous at all-- or it is more than continuous or discontinuous. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-14- 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, not just the super cool ones

Paul Shippee writes on a year of working in a prison

Angels of Darkness, Angels of Light

Continuous

Actually, your mind is not continuous, but you want what you see to be continuous if it is pretty, if it is good. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-14- 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, not just the super cool ones,

Three

As soon as this conditionality takes place, we have subjectivity of mind, and, at the same time, we have objectivity. Subjective and objective: something that sees and something that is seen. Here we have three stages already. In the first stage, conditionality takes place. The second stage is subjectivity. And the third is objectivity. This kind of functioning of our mind is very subtle. You do not usually realize it. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-14- 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, not just the super cool ones,

A Favorite Quote from Shakespeare

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, 
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. 

Or "our philosophy" from another version. I see it as all thought and belief. Hamlet speaking. I recall this especially when I hear thinkers or scientiests expressing great and profound things yet revealing limitaions in their views and beliefs. - dc

Mid thirties photo of Shunryu Suzuki

Have done a little updating on Nona Ransom's cuke page and a page of her photos and changed one photo from Maybe Shunryu Suzuki to just Shunryu Suzuki because it's the same place where the film was taken and have gone over that with Hoitsu Suzuki. But he didn't know where it was. That's Shunryu on the left and it's bigger if you go to the page of Nona's photos. The one below it there may also be him. I'll write Shungo Suzuki at Rinsoin to get a little more info on these photos. The stills from Nona's film linked to from that photo page offer many much better images but anyway here's this. - dc

Subtle

Conditionality is what we mean by “ignorance.” By “movement,” we mean that unconditioned being is conditioned in terms of color or form. As soon as it takes color or form, it will create some problem. This is the subtle beginning of the problem. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-14- 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, not just the super cool ones,

Problems

When an unconditioned being remains unconditioned, that is wisdom. But when that unconditioned being takes some form or color or movement, that is the beginning of ignorance. Accordingly, that movement will result in suffering or problems. This is quite understandable, I think. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-14- 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, not just the super cool ones,

Ahimsa

Adding this post minus Aussie image to the Fauna Ahimsa page on cuke.com. (doing as little harm as possible to animals)

Thinking about this section because we're getting a dog for our new Sanur home. Too vast to do more than suggest subjects to investigate.
Do a web search for key words in the following - much to choose from. The list could go on and on

Movement

According to Buddhism, the origin of suffering is very deep. Originally, we understand that there is some unconditioned being. But when unconditioned being is conditioned, something happens. I don't know what it is, but something happens. When this unconditioned being makes some movement, it is the beginning of ignorance. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-14- 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, not just the super cool ones,

Selected Poems and Musings of Venerable Moneyya

Moneyya Chronicles

Also a cool guy we run into here. Hard to miss him with his shaved head and maroon monk's robe. Read his bio at that link.

Good stuff. - dc with katrinka nodding

Shunryu Suzuki and the Beats published in Japanese

Samgha publishes the recent Japanese translation of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Not Always So, and Zen Is Right Here. Their magazine of the same name just published a lead article by me on Shunryu Suzuki and the Beats (Suzuki Shunryu to Biitoniku no toki hitotachi) plus an article on Suzuki by his son Hoitsu. There's a link to it and to the Amazon dot com page for this 380 page magazine issue on the cuke page with the article Shunryu Suzuki and the Beats in English.- dc

Mistakes

When your understanding is ego-centered, that is not right understanding. Your understanding is not universal. Your understanding is always ego-centered and partial. This is quite true with human beings. Without knowing that you are always making a mistake, you insist on yourself, your feeling, and you project your ego-centered ideas. That is why you make so many mistakes and we get into confusion. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-14- 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, not just the super cool ones,

Ego

You always make a big mistake. Why is this? There is a good reason. Do you know what it is? It is because of your ego-centered faculty, something which should not be mind. I don't know where this faculty is, whether it is in the faculty of your brain or not. I'm sure our brain does not make any mistakes, but something makes a mistake. What is it? ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-08-14- 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, not just the super cool ones,