Usually, when you bow to Buddha you look like you are respecting Buddha, but actually why you bow to Buddha is to continue your practice. That is the point. Without having any particular substantial idea or materialistic idea, just to live in bodhisattva's vow is the point. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-12 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
Green Gulch Farm new abbot jiryu Mark Rutschman-Byler has an article about his Roshibot and chatbots in general on Lion's Roar that is getting a lot of attention.
SFZC City Center new abbot Mako Voelkel set out a link to this article on AI and chatbots.
To respect tathagata: the first vow means to continue this practice incessantly, and for us everything is Buddha. Large and small, everything is Buddha. So to respect Buddha means to respect everything. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-12 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
Here is the correct link to the prior post for the page with the 11 photo set of Shunryu Suzuki with Yvonne Rand and her great-grandmother's glasses. - thanks Andrew Main
Each element consists of innumerable elements. So, we don't know what is the ultimate existence. When we have this understanding, we have no more idea of self. Instead of having an idea of self, we will see the Buddha in each world. So, if you say this world is great, it’s as great as the cosmos. If you say this world is small, you will see innumerable worlds even in a speck of dust. In this way we have to understand our world, and in this way we have to practice our way. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-12 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
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We think everything exists as it is and everything is independent from the rest of things, but actually everything is dependent with each other. Things are dependent with each other, and things are changing always. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-12 - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
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Item: SFZC 1966 Tassajara related Board Notes
This is something I threw together for myself while working on Tassajara Stories which will never be finished at the rate I'm going and how much competition it has from other vital Cuke Archives work. But anyway, the results of all this busywork will be on cuke where it can collect digital dust. - dc
Forget all about any substantial ideas. This is why we cannot understand Buddhism or our way. Actually there is nothing [laughs] including you. If so, we should just sit. Then you will be the one including everything. Because you are not accustomed to living in this form you are not accustomed to your own home. So, you are wandering about—finding your home. “Where is my home?” You are right in your home, but you are seeking for a home with a substantial idea. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
We say, without practice there is no buddha. It means practice is buddha. When you practice there is buddha....So, Sambhogakaya Buddha, which is rewarded body, which is one with everyday life, which is nothing but each being, means, you may say, to express your idea of buddha through your way of practice or your everyday life. That is the idea of Sambhogakaya. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
Narcissus's cuke podcast of two weeks ago
His cuke page - links there to lots, including images of some of his amazing stained glass work, his books, his cuke interview, and more.
Whatever texts you read, there is Zen. All scriptures are the truth by which you will understand what is Zen. But there is no need to read all of those scriptures because there is no need to arrange them vertically or horizontally. So, if you open some part of the scriptures, there is Zen. In this way, we should understand our way, and we should read scriptures. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
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Podcast with Frank (not on the Cuke Podcast page at the time of this post.)
tomorrow - another podcast plugged
this weekend - another podcast goes up
We should not arrange teachings horizontally or vertically. We should realize the meaning of teachings, one by one, without arranging them. This is not only the Zen way but also Tendai's way. The so-called middle way in Tendai is a way to accept teachings one by one without arranging them. That is the middle way. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
If everything is changing, nothing special exists. This is true. But in the smallest particle of time, everything exists. Everything is changing moment after moment, but everything at the smallest particle of time exists in a form and color with close relationships with other things. That is true. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
Even people who are not satisfied with a materialistic way of life, as long as their view of life is based on some substantial viewpoint of existence, they cannot get out of a materialistic way of life. Even though they seek for some spiritual life, in their spiritual life there are various materialistic values. When nothing concrete exists, nothing permanent exists. There is nothing that does not change. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
As a Dharmakaya Buddha, his body is omnipresent or truth itself. As a Nirmanakaya Buddha, his body is more real, a tangible buddha. So, each one of us will be a Nirmanakaya Buddha. If you think in this way, it is not only this bodhisattva who is Dharmakaya and Nirmanakaya. All of us are also Nirmanakaya Buddha and Dharmakaya Buddha. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
Ed Sattizhan has stepped down as the Central Abbot, Fu Nancy Schroeder from Green Gulch. David Zimmerman was the City Center abbot.
Here's a SFZC Sangha News article from last June announcing it
Dear New Abbots, Wishing you all smooth sailing in the unpredictable waters you're heading into. - DC
Nirmanakaya Buddha is more concrete, not abstract. Dharmakaya Buddha is more abstract—buddha as truth. Buddha before he takes various forms is Dharmakaya Buddha. But Nirmanakaya Buddha may be various beings which have form and color. So, this bodhisattva has two sides: He is universal buddha as a Dharmakaya Buddha, and also Nirmanakaya Buddha as a more concrete buddha which has form and color.
—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B - as found on
shunryusuzuki.com
edited by PF. Go to
instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig
for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
I'm
pleased that my second book, Zen for Kids: 50+ Mindful
Activities and Stories to Shine Loving-Kindness in the World is available
to order and will be released by Shambhala/ Penguin Random House on March 14.
When Shambhala invited me to write a book about Zen for children, I wasn't sure
it was such a good idea. At San Francisco Zen Center, we don't indoctrinate the
children into Zen. But then I thought about my own daughter's life in our
sangha, the ceremonies she attended growing up, and the wonderful family
program we host at Green Gulch Farm, where the kids come to the first part of
lecture on a Sunday and then go outside to do activities in the gardens and
fields.
When my daughter was about five, we were looking at the night sky at Tassajara, and I showed her the Big Dipper. She said, "It's like the ladle we use to bathe the baby Buddha with sweet water on his birthday!" Now my daughter is a preschool teacher in Oakland and teaches meditation--which perforce is called "mindfulness" in education--to her little ones and to other teachers.This book reflects my many years of Zen practice and the 35 years that I spent teaching Third Grade. While not using the word "paramitas," the wisdom stories and activities that I share, and the activities that flow from them, highlight teachings on generosity, patience, wholehearted effort, etc. If there are children in your life, or if you'd like this book to be part of your community, it's appropriate for kids 4 -10 or older. The charming illustrations are done by artist Melissa Iwai.
Shambhala has encouraged me to offer a generous 30% discount for the book if you order it through their website. Here are the details that they sent to me:
·
Code is ZFK30
·
For
orders of Zen for Kids made through Shambhala.com.
·
The code is
valid through April 14, 2023 (one month after publication).
·
You
go to the book's page on the Shambhlala website to place
your order.
(*Code valid on shambhala.com through April 24, 2023. Enter code in shopping
cart. Cannot be combined with other offers.)
I think that, as we find ways to share the principles of practice with children in kid-friendly and light-hearted ways, we are touching the future and enriching family life.
Bowing with gratitude,
Laura
This bodhisattva is the bodhisattva of all the universal teaching, all the dharma. As Avalokitesvara is the bodhisattva of compassion, this bodhisattva is the bodhisattva of wisdom or truth. By “truth” I do not mean some truth in an ordinary sense. It is more than truth. It is more concrete. It is more tangible. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
Thank You, Stan!
For: Stan White
Bundled up against the biting wintry sea
currents of the Pacific,
I asked Stan how he could amble about
the monastery grounds in short sleeves
and flip-flops sans socks.
The cold won’t hurt you, he said,
scrambling my brain waves!
Wonderstruck with this new reckoning
that I could unbutton my coat,
let the outside in,
and whenever possible
pass along the good news
to anyone shivering needlessly—
there is more of life that can be taken.
We say “think non-thinking.” So, you may say—to obtain something which you cannot obtain. Anyway, what you will have through zazen is more than what you think you have acquired. This kind of acquisition cannot be attained by experience or by thinking.
—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B - as found on
shunryusuzuki.com
edited by PF. Go to
instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig
for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
with the caption
Shunryu Suzuki watering under the arbor in front of the old zendo.
thanks Peter Ford
Even though you do not realize, you do not think, or you are not aware of the merit of your zazen, it does not mean you haven't acquired anything. Even if you think you have had some special experience, that does not mean you acquired the true power of meditation. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
forward by Susan Moon
There must be some mistake as one of the turning words examples is from yours truly. - DC
You should always be ready to respond to circumstances. Perfect ability to respond to the circumstances is what you will have through right meditation. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
If zazen practice is just to acquire or to attain some special experience, that is not true zazen. True zazen through right practice is more than just experience. You may say this—what you acquire by right meditation is the power of adjusting yourself according to the circumstances. Sometimes we put emphasis on flexibility. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
Although We Have Nothing, We Can Help Others By Offering Things - Engage Wisdom Link
What you will attain through experience will be some universality. But some accurate, substantial, solid, tangible feeling, or meaning cannot be attained by experience. So, we put emphasis on validity rather than universality. This validity could be acquired through right meditation. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
Through intellectual understanding, you may have the universal truth. You may understand what is universal truth by induction or by experience or by thinking. But the wisdom which we mean cannot be acquired through thinking or by experience. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
Saturday 10:00 am Livestream Dharma Talk: Hoitsu Suzuki, Online/Onsite 3/11
at the SFZC City Center.
Hoitsu Suzuki is eldest son and dharma heir of Shunryu Suzuki.
Hoitsu's son, Shungo, sent us this recent photo. Looking good Hoitsu Roshi!
If we put emphasis on the truth itself, rather than its spiritual or physical being, that is Dharmakaya Buddha. Although he is the embodiment of the truth, without practice he cannot attain enlightenment and he cannot express the truth. Only when he actually practices the truth, the truth will be realized. Realization of the truth will take place in this sense. Then we call him Sambhogakaya Buddha. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
Nirmanakaya Buddha is when Shakyamuni Buddha helps people, providing various teachings, like a doctor who makes prescriptions. Sambhogakaya Buddha is the rewarded body who attained buddhahood through his practice. Dharmakaya Buddha is the Buddha as truth. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
Phillip Wilson was at Rinsoin some in the mid-sixties. Suzuki had sent him to Eiheiji where he stayed for two practice periods. Here's a quote from an old interview with Phillip that shows a side of Shunryu Suzuki that I'd not heard before. I wish I'd included this in Crooked Cucumber to balance some of the less cheery, more remote things his offspring said about him. I included a couple of photos to support the point. - dc
Did you meet his daughter? She talked about Reverend Suzuki as a young man and how they used to go to the beach and play and go swimming. I had never pictured him playing. They said he liked to go to the beach and have a good time. Probably he got so busy with the temple that he couldn't do it very often. They said he was very athletic and loved the outdoors.
All of the Ten Buddhas which we recite at mealtime.... So, we have here Buddha and sangha and dharma. So, if you recite those names with deeper understanding, it means you are repeating, you are practicing the Buddha's way. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-01-11B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
Followup from the prior post. We had to remove material against community standards of which there was none so Peter added a blank space and resaved and we got this:
We have re-evaluated the post titled "Elizabeth Baker singing in
Berkeley" against Community Guidelines
https://blogger.com/go/contentpolicy. Upon review, the post has been
reinstated. You may access the post at
http://cukenew.blogspot.com/2018/04/elizabeth-baker-singing-in-berkeley.html.
From what I've gathered reading about this sort of problem, it can get taken off again. We'll see. Little by little it seems we live in a world run by AI. - DC
That is another side of serious practice. That is, if we know what is just a joke, we are practicing very good practice—not too much effort [laughs], but not too little [laughs]. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-00-00-B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
We got this message:
"This post was unpublished because it violates Blogger Community Guidelines. To republish, please update the content to adhere to guidelines."
The post then reverted to draft status. On one of them Peter Ford found three x's that were in the post. They were deleted and the post went back up. But what's wrong with the one below? It's from over four years ago. The other one was 2016. They've clearly got some program sweeping the whole shebang for offensive content like that in the screenshot below (click on image to see larger).
at the SFZC City Center.
Hoitsu Suzuki is eldest son and dharma heir of Shunryu Suzuki.
The great teachers are doing just enough, and not much [laughs, laughter]. Sometimes they wear a gorgeous okesa and a beautiful hat and a long staff, beautiful sandals, and a beautiful whisk. You may think, “That is too much!” [laughs]. Actually, maybe too much! [Laughs, laughter.] But the reason why they do so is because people like it, you know [laughter]. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-00-00-B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
It may seem as if it's the permanent Tassajara schedule but that Tassajara Schedule that was just featured is one of a number of schedules that were typed up for the first practice period in 1967 when the schedule kept changing as things were tried out. Note the typos - that not all the times work - work ended at 11:25, not 1:25. And there's a 1:30 bath for the sick that was tried for a week. It's one of some of the materials posted on cuke.com from that first summer practice period. - dc
Student: How is it possible to do too much or try too hard?
SR: To get up too early before other students. To get up early and to sit—that is not good practice! Our rules are not so loose. Our rules are just right [laughs]. If you try to do more, you will be exhausted. You could not keep your practice for seven days—eventually you would give up. So, this much care is necessary on the part of the teacher or leader.
—Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-00-00-B - as found on
shunryusuzuki.com
edited by PF. Go to
instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig
for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
No practice just for yourself. To take care of the zendo is practice. To take care of your own kitchen is practice. We understand practice in that way. How you take care of your kitchen is how you sit. Even though you sit, you have many problems: drowsiness, pain in your legs, and you have to take care of your breathing, and your posture should always be straight. There are many things to take care of, in your practice. We are not just sitting on a cushion [laughs] sleeping. We are taking care of everything. Just as you take care of your family, your children. That is real practice. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-00-00-B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
Real self will be found in your surroundings. You will be always completely absorbed in what you see—if you are not fooling yourself. If you exist here, that is very true. We know that. So, we have no individual practice, in its usual sense. Our individual practice includes everything. —Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-00-00-B - as found on shunryusuzuki.com edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives or cuke.com/ig for links to the full Shunryu Suzuki lecture and the source of the photo.
Frog Zen - go to Memoire Part Two, Chapter 16, Crazy Wisdom, which includes his experience going to Sokoji, meeting Shunryu Suzuki, doing zazen, and more. It's also on his cuke page.
At his cuke page there's a link to another Suzuki Story
