Recently I was talking about denial of desires. This may be confusing. Our way is not asceticism, but actually, if you read our precepts literally, there is no difference [laughs]. But what it means is completely different.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 69-04-08 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
Ryuten Paul Rosenblum was a student of Shunryu Suzuki and is the vice abbot of Johanneshof, Richard Baker's retreat in the Black Forest. He lives half time in Germany and half time in Northern California. His website is ryutenpaulrosenblum.com. Listen to our podcast and read more about him - https://cuke.com/f.
I was in bed for a long time, and I was thinking about these things, you know. I was just practicing zazen in bed [laughter]. I should enjoy my bed. Sometimes it was difficult, but I laughed at myself. “Why is it so difficult? Why don’t you enjoy your difficulty?” [Laughs.] That is, I think, our practice.
Del Carlson - 2017
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 69-03-30 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
See this photo with almost all names when you hover the cursor over faces.
It is all right to enjoy your life moment after moment because you are not enjoying it as something concrete and eternal. Our life is momentary, and, at the same time, each moment includes its own past and future. The next moment will include its own past and future. In this way, our momentary and eternal life will continue. This is how we lead our everyday life, how we enjoy our everyday life, and how we get freedom from various difficulties. How we do not suffer from difficulties, and how we enjoy our life moment after moment is our practice based on true understanding.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 69-03-30 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
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When you are able to sit without being attached to any image or any sound, with an open mind, that is true practice. And that you can do that means you already have absolute freedom from everything. |
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—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 69-03-30 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version. |
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As Dogen Zenji said, we human beings attach to something which is not real and forget all about what is real [laughs]. That is actually what we are doing. If you realize this point, you will have perfect composure, and you can trust yourself. Whatever happens to you, it doesn’t matter. You can trust yourself. |
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—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 69-03-30 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version. |
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Our activity is cosmic activity and personal activity. So, there is no need to explain what we are doing. When you want to explain it, that is all right, but because it is impossible to understand you should not feel uneasy. You know, actually you are here, right here. Before you don’t [thumps stick] understand yourself, you are you. After you understand, you are not you anymore [laughs].
Shadow screen of Shunryu Suzuki created by Al Wong
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 69-03-30 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
You cannot say this is just Buddha’s activity because you are [thumps stick] active actually. You may say then, I don’t know who is doing what. But why say that. You want to intellectualize your activity, that’s all. So, before you say something, the actual [thumps stick] activity is here. That is actually who we are. We are Buddha, and we are each one of us [laughs].
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 69-03-30 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
Tatsudo Nicole Baden has been practicing Zen since 2001 and received Dharma Transmission in 2017. Richard Baker will be stepping down and Nicole Baden will be stepping up to be the abbot of Dharma Sangha in Germany and the US. Listen to an encore presentation of a podcast talk with Nicole that was posted on March 20, 2021. - https://cuke.com/f.
If we do something we cannot say, “I am doing something,” because there is no one independent separate from others.… When I say something, you are hearing it. So, I cannot do anything just for myself…. When someone does something, everyone is cooperating, and everyone will be doing something.
L to R: Phillip Wilson, Shunryu, Mitsu Suzuki, ?, David Chadwick, Richard Baker - Tassajara 1967
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 69-03-30 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
Some may say our activity originated or is based on Buddha’s mind. And “such and such” is Buddha’s mind, and “so and so” is ordinary mind. You may say various explanations [laughs], but there is no need to explain in that way.
Buddha’s Birthday, Sokoji - 1966
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 69-03-30 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
Ordinary mind is tao, you know. Even though we are doing quite usual things, whenever we do something, that is actually Buddha’s activity—Buddha’s activity, but our activity [laughs]. Ordinary mind is tao. Buddha’s mind, Buddha’s activity, and our activity are not different.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 69-03-30 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
Whatever you hear, whatever you see, that is okay. Before you have this kind of actual feeling, of course it is necessary to be accustomed to our practice. Although intellectually we understand ourselves, but if we haven’t actual feeling with it, then it is not so powerful. So, that is why you must keep on practicing. If you keep practicing our way, naturally you will have this understanding and this actual feeling, too.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 69-03-30 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
When you experience enlightenment, or when you are enlightened, you will understand things more freely. You don’t mind what people call you. “Ordinary man.” “Okay, I am an ordinary man.” “You are buddha?” “Yes, I am buddha.” “How can you be a buddha and an ordinary man?” “Oh, I don’t know why, but actually I am buddha and an ordinary man.” It doesn’t matter. Whatever they say [laughs], that is all right.
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 69-03-30 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
We call someone who understands things from just one side, tamban-kan. In Japanese it means a man who carries a board on his shoulder. Because he carries a big board on his shoulder this way, he cannot see the other side [laughs]. He is always carrying a big board on his shoulder. Almost all people are carrying a big board, so they cannot see the other side. He thinks he is just an ordinary man, but if he takes off the board, he will understand, “Oh, I am buddha, too [laughs]. It is amazing,” he may say. That is enlightenment.
Erik Storlie and his brother
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 69-03-30 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.
Kelly Bernard Chadwick grew up in and around Tassajara, the SFZC City Center, and Green Gulch Farm. He is my older son. His mother is my first wife, Daya Goldschlag who now has a Zen group in Spokane, Washington, where Kelly is an arborist and has a business there called Spirit Pruners. Listen to our podcast and read more about him and his recent work at Tassajara - https://cuke.com/f.