This is the Cuke Archives page for what’s being featured each day.
Our other two Zen sites: shunryusuzuki.com - all the transcripts, audio, film, photo archive
and ZMBM.net - for Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
New 2021: Audiobook for Crooked Cucumber & Zen Is Right Now: More Teaching Stories and Anecdotes of Shunryu Suzuki
Youtube Cuke Archives - Posts from here also appear on Facebook Cuke Archives
Core Books by and about Shunryu Suzuki -- People Index -- DC home -- DC Books
Cuke Podcasts - Instagram Cuke Archives - - Donate
For personal, environment, music, etc, go to Cuke nonZense Blog and cuke-annex
Search cuke blog 
Search Cuke.com

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Don’t think too much.

Student [Rick Morton]: Docho Roshi, I don’t understand what to do about the bad things I think about myself.

SR: Yeah. Maybe so. If you don’t do anything, still you don’t feel good.

Rick Morton: That’s correct.

SR: And if you do, you feel sometimes good, sometimes bad. So, this is a very difficult problem. Maybe the only way to get out of it is to practice zazen sometimes, and to do some special work sometimes. And you should make best effort in each moment. That is the only way. Don’t think too much. Thinking will not help you.

cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-09-00 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.