What Should I Do With My Mind

Science will bring you some universal truth, which is like a telescope. You will have a vast sight of mind which is universal, as if you see San Francisco from Tamalpais. Of course it helps you, but [laughs] you will not be so interested in the science of minds in general. The most concerning problem for us is what should I do with my mind. And only religion will give you the answer: What should you do with your mind? This is the kind of mind religious people are very concerned about.

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—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-26-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

A Piece on the Spread of Beginner’s Mind

 After I did the recent podcast on The Rise of Beginner’s Mind, I decided to put the gist of it down to something readable and called it The Spread of Beginner’s Mind. You can find it posted on the Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind page on cuke.com. There’s a link to the podcast there too. I’m going to work on this story more and do deeper research. - dc

Psychology and Religion

Psychology studies our mind as an object of study. “Here is mind which is universal to everyone. And what is the function of our mind?” This is psychology. But in religion we study our own mind. This is the difference. My own mind—not everyone’s mind [laughing]. I don’t mind some other’s mind, but we do mind our own mind [laughter]. That is religion.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-26-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Featured Cuke Archives page

Meiya Wender has practiced at Zen Center since 1972, was ordained as a priest in 1986 (receiving the name Luminous Night, Original Practice, Meiya Honshu), and received Dharma Transmission in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 2002. She has also trained in traditional Soto Zen forms at Zuioji in Shikoku, Japan. She has held many monastic positions at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center and Green Gulch, including director, ino (head of the zendo), tenzo (head cook), and tanto (head of practice). She has studied the Way of Tea for many years, including a year at the Urasenke Midorikai program in Kyoto, and teaches Tea in Sowing the Moon Teahouse at Green Gulch. - from the SFZC site. Listen to the podcast and read more about her.

Science and Religion

The problems which cannot be solved by science will be solved by the culture of science. So, our basic foundation will be science, natural science, and cultural science. In this science, we discuss what is truth, what is beauty, what is good, and, if possible, what is holiness. But it is rather difficult to discuss holiness by cultural science. So, the last problem for us is what is holiness? What is holy nature? This problem will be solved with religion. —cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-26-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

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Spiritual or Material

Science is very important. But science just studies or treats outward objects, and science will result in a materialistic understanding of life. But whether our human existence is spiritual or material is a big problem which has been discussed for a long, long time. We have no conclusion to it yet: Are we spiritual or material [laughs]? Is our mental function just an attribute of our body, or is our spiritual function the basic function for human beings? This kind of problem is not solved completely.

Image generated by Leonardo.ai and modified by Microsoft Copilot

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-26-D as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.

Whole Big Family

This kind of understanding of religion is so necessary for us. It is very important because it is the only way to find harmony in the various religions we have. When various religious people understand this system, religion will be one: not Buddhism, not Christianity, not one school of Christianity or Buddhism. One whole big family of religious people will be established. There is this possibility in Dogen’s understanding.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-26-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. These posts are also on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. We are continually working on improving the quality of transcriptions of Suzuki's lectures. After a new "verbatim transcript" is made, we create a minimally edited version which is more readable. See the most recently completed transcripts at shunryusuzuki.com/n.