The Meaning of Our Effort

Sitting is very valuable experience that will encourage your effort in your everyday life. In our everyday life we usually try to do something or try to change something into some other thing. Or we try to attain something. But trying to attain something is already an expression of our true nature. Trying to change something into some other thing is already the art of life. We should find out the meaning of our effort itself, before we attain something.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-08-26 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.

Just Sit

So, when you practice zazen, you should not try to attain anything. You should just sit in complete calmness. You should not rely on anything. Your body should be straight. And your spine should be straight without leaning over or leaning against something. You should just keep your body straight. It means you do not rely on anything. When you rely on something, or when you try to do something in zazen, it is dualistic. So you just sit. In this way, physically and mentally, you will obtain complete calmness.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-08-26 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.

Art of Life

Even though you find the value of Zen in everyday life, we should not neglect our zazen. Even if you do not feel anything when you sit, if you do not have the experience of Zen, you cannot find anything; you just find weeds or trees or clouds [laughs]. For Zen students, weeds which most people do not care for so much, are a treasure. In this way, we have an artistic life. Whatever you do, that is the art of life for Zen students.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-08-26 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.

Calmness

When you sit, you do not feel anything; you just sit. You are in the complete calmness of your mind. But in everyday life, you will be encouraged by the calmness from sitting. So actually, you will find the value of Zen in everyday life, rather than when you sit.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-08-26 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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Evanescence of Life

A Japanese saying says, “For the moon there is a cloud. For the flower we have wind.” Usually, it means the evanescence of life, which we find very difficult to live in. But in the evanescence of life, we can find the joy of eternal life. When you see part of the moon covered by a cloud, you will find the roundness of the moon. When you see a clear moon without any clouds or anything, trees or weeds, you do not feel the moon is as round as when you see it through something.

Image generated by ChatGPT

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-08-26 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.

Calmness

In a Zen poem it says, “after the wind has stopped, I see a flower falling. Because of a singing bird, I find the mountain calmer.” When something happens in the realm of calmness, we find calmness. Before anything happens to the calmness, we do not feel the calmness.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-08-26 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.

Balance

By nature, we are very, very, very positive. But when you are being just positive, you will not respond to your surroundings so well because your life will be one-sided. It is like a ship, on which many people ride, and these people ride on one side only [laughs], the ship will turn over. So, balance this boat…

Image generated by Google Gemini

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-31 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.

Organizations and Rules

As soon as we start to talk about organizations, we will have this kind of problem. “What is the teaching? What are your rules?” [Laughter.] But we do not want those rules. Actually, we do not have such kinds of rules like: “As a Buddhist you have to believe in re-incarnation.” [Laughs] we have no such rules. Most Buddhists believe in re-incarnation, I think, but I am not so sure. This kind of rule is not fundamental, and for our sect, the most important thing is our system of teaching.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-31 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.

Those Questions

We do not talk about “Before this earth” like this. “What was here? Or what was there? What changed into this earth?” or “What will become of this earth?” This kind of research or the questions which a scientific mind will have to answer, those questions are not our point. And actually, that is just an intellectual quest or intellectual project. For us, those problems are not so serious problems.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-31 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.

To Realize Our True Nature

So according to Zen, satori should be attained by practicing. This is truth, as you understand it. Intellectual effort will not satisfy, will not be good enough, and will not help you. And scientific effort is not enough, or it is quite different effort from the point you want. If by mental function it is impossible to attain enlightenment, then by practice or by our actual activity to realize our true nature is the only way which is left.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-31 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

Search all the Wind Bell newsletters of the San Francisco Zen Center by author, keyword, category, etc.

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Various Answers

What do you mean by “what is?” [laughs]. “What is satori?” is a very difficult question to figure out what kind of answer you expect. I explained it in various ways because there is no other way than to give various kinds of answers to your question. Various kinds of answer should be prepared from a scientific viewpoint, or a psychological viewpoint, or a religious viewpoint. We cannot say what satori is just from one viewpoint.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-31 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.

Many Possibilities

So, according to Dogen we can resume our original Zen. Here we have no exclusive idea of Zen, and at the same time, we have many possibilities. There are many ways of expressing our original idea: you can express Dogen Zenji’s spirit in your own way because we have no exclusive pattern of Zen.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-31 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.

Original Zen

If people think, “My particular Zen is Zen,” [laughs] how about others’ Zen? So, there is a clear distinction from true fundamental practice of Zen, and any particular exclusive school. If we go back to the original it is the same. And by studying more and more philosophical and various ways, we can improve the idea of Zen—like with the Shobogenzo. That kind of effort is to make the original idea of Zen clear, in distinction from some exclusive and particular Zen. To make clear original Zen from various types of Zen.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-31 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.

Personal Character

Strictly speaking, enlightenment may not be the same. Fundamentally it is the same, but there is a personal character in it. Without some particular way, original way cannot be expressed.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-31 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.

Disciple of Buddha

Before Bodhidharma there was no Zen master; all Buddhists practiced Zen. But after Bodhidharma many schools of Zen developed with their own characteristics. But original Zen is to practice Zen as a disciple of Buddha. Our practice is to practice Zen as Buddha did. That is not just to attain a certain master’s type of enlightenment.

Mary Mocine and Sojun Mel Weitsman

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-31 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.

Enlightenment

Always our way is where you practice it, there is enlightenment. And even though you do not expect enlightenment, enlightenment is there. Or we can say, if you expect enlightenment, enlightenment will not be there.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-31 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.

Wherever

Wherever your mind is, whatever you think, there is something, and that something includes you yourself, your big mind or true nature.

Calligraphy from a poem by Upasama

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-31 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.

Funeral Ceremony for David Chadwick

Green Gulch Farm
Sunday, April 12, 3 – 6 pm PDT

https://cuke.com/f
or
https://www.sfzc.org/calendar/events/green-gulch-farm/funeral-ceremony-david-chadwick-green-gulch-farm-ggf-412

Self-evident Fact

This kind of philosophy—not philosophy, actual fact—is interpreted in a philosophical way [laughs]. That is why it is difficult to understand Buddhist philosophy. The most difficult thing may be to give some interpretation to self-evident fact [laughter].

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-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.

Wonderful Fish

Student: How long does it take?

Suzuki: Nooo, it doesn’t take any time [laughter]. You are there. Fish is there, right there. Buddhism is two-handed. You can ignore the truth, but it is right here. This fish has immense value. You cannot measure its value. You don’t know whether it is big or small. How many fish are there? One, two, three. Each one has his own fish, and each fish is the same. It’s wonderful.

Image from wikimedia.org

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-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.

Sky Is Mind

When you say “mind,” there is no material. When you say “material,” there is no mind. Before you see fish, watch the water. When you watch the water, there is fish, not water. For science it’s water, but for me it is fish [laughter]. For the scientific mind it’s oxygen plus two hydrogen. But for me it is not water, it is fish, and I’m involved in it, and I am swimming in the water. In this way we are flying through the sky. All the sky is mind. This understanding is very subtle and wonderful. All the sky is my home. If you say it is too wide, that is your problem. If you say that’s wonderful, that is your pleasure of life.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-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.

Problems

For science mind is an object of study. But for us it is most concerning [laughs]. We are talking about each one’s mind. I am talking about my mind, and you are listening to your mind, not someone else’s mind. If so, that mind includes all the problems you have. Without mind, there is no problem [laughs]. Without “you,” there is no problem. Because there is “you,” you have problems. Because you have mind, small or big, I don’t know [laughs]. Anyway, because you have your mind, there are problems.

Drawing by Stan White

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-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.

Religious Mind

“Everything is mind,” we take this viewpoint. We are concerned about each individual’s attainment or nirvana or happiness which should be for each one of us. We do not talk about mind in just a scientific way. We mean my mind, your mind, or someone’s mind who is concerned about his own life. If so, mind includes various problems we see, or feel involved in. For us, mind is our hand, our room, our family, our country because our minds are concerned with people, with family, with our body. So, in this sense mind and body is one—in a religious sense.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-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

David reading from Zen Is Right Here: Teaching Stories and Anecdotes of Shunryu Suzuki

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Mind and Body

When you say “mind,” of course you have ideas of mind and body, or big mind and small mind. So there are various meanings. We mean many things by mind. But this was a big problem for us. It has been and still is a big problem. What is mind and what is our body? Materialistic or duality, or mind and body are the same. But in Buddhism, mind and body are two faces of one reality.

Beginner's Mind Calligraphy by Shunryu Suzuki

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-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.

To Understand the Full Meaning

Kanjizai [the first words of the Heart Sutra]. Jizai is “free”: freedom without any disturbance and without any form or color. Kan is not to observe form or color, but to understand the full meaning of the color—through color and form to understand its true meaning. Kan does not mean a scientific viewpoint—understanding from our sense organs or by philosophical effort. To penetrate into the true meaning, that is kan. When the kan is fully functional, the function is jizai, free, without any disturbance.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-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.

Transmission

Dharma is not just the written scripture. It is transmission. will be handed down from warm hand to warm hand, from body to body, from person to person. That is transmission. That is dharma, or cover [laughs]. You may say, “I don’t want a cover.” [Laughs.] “If I have a pan and food, that’s enough.” For awhile it is so, but it will get stale. It will go bad quite soon if you have no cover for it.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-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.

Not Little Mind

Little mind. When you think it is little mind, that is little mind. When you understand your mind is not little mind, that is big mind. So, mind is the same. And when you think something is good or bad, it is already discrimination of small mind.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-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.