Religious Work

There is a clear distinction between social work and religious work. Social work is based on science and sociology. Of course, sociology is good. And, we should have sociology. But to help others in a religious sense is quite different from social work. So, what I mean is, working at a hospital is to help others. For a religious person, working at a hospital without changing anything is our practice. For those who understand the religious way, there is no sociology. Sociology [laughs] is, without changing anything, a religious activity for a person who knows how to help others. But, for those who do not understand religious life, sociology is just sociology. And, if you ignore religious life, it will not work properly. Some confusion will be created. So that is why all of us should have a religious life.

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

In Zen “to help others” means we do not take it in a dualistic sense. “To help others” means to think of others as a part of you. Not “others” —not “you, yourself.” You think to help others is to help someone, some imperfect person helps people. But when we say, “to help others” in our sense, it means to consider people a part of you, or it is like your hands or your body. So, in this sense we help others.

Photo by L. S. Sleven, courtesy of the Monterey County Public Library, from The Double Cone Quarterly

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-30-C 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 New Book by Reb Anderson

On Amazon

Featured Cuke Archives page

https://www.shunryusuzuki.com/ai-min-edits.htm

Help Others

Enlightened means, maybe, many things. And the word “enlightenment” is very wide. Enlightenment does not mean to attain perfection. Bodhisattva’s way is to help others, even before he saves himself. That is the bodhisattva’s way. So, the point is how to help others.

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

Best Spiritual Books of 2025

2025 Spirituality & Practice Award Winner

Tassajara Stories: A Sort of Memoir/Oral History of the First Zen Buddhist Monastery in the West — The First Year, 1967 By David Chadwick

www.spiritualityandpractice.com/book-reviews/view/29706/tassajara-stories

Cuke page: https://www.cuke.com/ts/

Berkeley Zen Center to Install First Female Abbot on March 1st

Berkeley, CA – February 12, 2026 – The Berkeley Zen Center (BZC) is excited to announce a

historic moment in its nearly sixty years of practice with the installation of its first female abbot

on March 1st, 2026.

The new abbot, Linda Galijan, was ordained as a priest and given authority to teach and ordain

others by BZC’s first abbot Sojun Mel Weitsman. Weitsman founded BZC in 1967 along with

his teacher, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, author of the classic collection of essays, Zen Mind,

Beginners Mind. Hozan Alan Senauke succeeded Weitsman in 2021, having been picked by

Weitsman years before. Senauke died after a long illness in late 2024.

The BZC Board invited, and its membership chose, Galijan to be the Center’s third abbot. She

takes on the role after decades working in a range of healing capacities—as a professional

musician in classical, swing, and world-beat bands, a massage therapist, and a licensed clinical

psychologist. After establishing her Zen practice at BZC, Galijan lived at San Francisco Zen

Center (SFZC) and Tassajara Zen Mountain Center (TZMC), serving as President of SFZC, and

Director and Head of Practice at TZMC. She has led meditation intensives, given Dharma talks,

and taught classes at Zen centers around the country.

“Returning to my home temple during Hozan’s illness, I was expecting to stay for just a few

months to support the community. That stay was extended, bit by bit, and when Hozan ultimately

passed and BZC needed a new abbot, I wanted to stay and support BZC during the next chapter,”

says Galijan. “As abbot, my intention is to provide a sense of continuity between the strengths

and values of BZC’s past and the possibilities for renewal and growth, which includes finding

ways to respond to these turbulent times grounded in wisdom and compassion.”

A humble but venerable home for Soto Zen practice in the Bay Area, BZC aims to welcome all

who come through the gate, inviting beginners and mature students to delve into practice and

take the teachings into their everyday lives.

“So many organizations struggle after the founder is gone. But BZC is thriving,” said Colleen

Busch, BZC Board President. “Women have always held leadership and practice positions at

BZC, but never abbot. Linda has a naturally open, encouraging, settled presence that I know will

bring benefit, not only to BZC but to the wider community.”

The installation ceremony will be held at BZC. It is not open to the public, though it will be

livestreamed through the website: www.berkeleyzencenter.org.

About Berkeley Zen Center

Rooted in the Soto Zen lineage established in America by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, Berkeley Zen

Center offers a variety of programs, including zazen (meditation), retreats, classes, Dharma talks,

and a residential program. The Center is dedicated to supporting individuals to walk the path of

1liberation through zazen and sangha (community) life, encouraging practitioners to build a solid

foundation and bring their practice into their lives.

For more information, please visit www.berkeleyzencenter.org.

Contact:

Colleen Busch

Board President

Berkeley Zen Center

(510) 845-2403

president@berkeleyzencenter.org

www.berkeleyzencenter.org 

Sesshin Is Mind

Activity will stop—the true activity of your life will be no more. So, if you do not catch it when you are active, how can you catch it? And there is a way to catch it. That is our practice. That is sesshin. Sesshin is mind. To catch our true mind is sesshin. This mind cannot be caught by thinking or feeling. It is too late. So, moment after moment, to watch your breathing, to watch your posture is to dwell on your true nature. There is no secret beside this point.

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

Right There

There is no need even to read one page of a book. There is no need even to listen to this. It is here. Before a fish comes, there is fish [laughs]. In the Sandokai it says, “Before the night has gone, the dawn is here.” When you are waiting for dawn, dawn is here; you are there, right there. Your true mind is right there. When you are wandering, the true mind is right there. When you are suffering, the true mind is right there, with suffering.

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

Catch It

When the Second Chinese Patriarch saw Bodhidharma, and confessed his shameful mind, Bodhidharma said, “Bring me a shameful mind. Catch the shameful mind.” He said, “I cannot catch it.” Of course, [laughs] no one can catch it. It is a shadow. How can you catch a shadow? So, he said, “I cannot catch it.” And Bodhidharma said, “The confession is over.”

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

This Moment

It is inevitable for us to have shadows. But to step on your shadow [laughs] is impossible. How can you catch your shadow? If you try to step on your shadow, the shadow will be ahead of you. If you go one step behind, the shadow will be behind you. It is impossible. It is foolish to think “future” or “past.” Why don’t you catch yourself in this moment? When you are doing something, you are there. You are too attached to visible things.

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

Shadows of the Mind

If you firmly believe in scientific truth, and are caught by the scientific way of life, you have no idea what true mind is. You are always chasing after a shadow of the mind. A philosophical interpretation or psychological interpretation of your mind is just a shadow of the mind, but you firmly believe in it. So, you mistake LSD for enlightenment [laughs]. If the Sixth Patriarch were here, he might say, “With such people I cannot talk.”

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

Everything

So, in your practice, whether that practice is good or bad, perfect or imperfect, when this kind of mind is at work, your practice is the practice of enlightenment. Your practice includes everything, within and without. The whole world is your home, and everything belongs to you.

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

Tassajara Stories - Kindle

Monkfish cut the Kindle price for Tassajara Stories in half. The high price was a mistake.

https://amzn.to/4qztW5y

Nothing But Fish

In this case, the vast sky is my home. There is no bird and no air. Air and bird are one. So Dogen Zenji says, “Bird flies like a bird; fish swims like a fish. Water is its home. And when it swims in the water, it is water and a fish—there is nothing but fish. All the water belongs to him. And when he can swim everywhere, it means he can think. That thinking is right thinking. Logical thinking or analytical thinking, is not true thinking.

Photo by Andrew Atkeison

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

That “I”

Before you see buddha-nature, you see your mind. You watch your mind. When you watch your mind, when you say, “My zazen is very poor zazen” [laughs], here you have true nature. But you do not realize that is true nature. You ignore it—this is a silly mistake. There is immense importance in the “I” when you watch your mind. That “I” is not dead “I.” That “I” is always incessant activity. That “I” is always acting. That “I” is always swimming. That “I” is always flying through vast air with wings. By “wings,” I mean thinking and various activity. That “I” is flying through the vast sky.

Photo by Paul Lichtblau on pexels.com

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

“I think, therefore I am.”

As Descartes says, “I think, therefore I am.” Here, “therefore I am”—that “I” is not just small mind. He could not deny that “I” which thinks, which watches water. That someone who is watching—you, who are watching water—is true nature itself. You think fish is true nature [laughing], but it is not. You are watching water. And that “you” cannot be denied. That is ultimate existence. And at the same time, that is universal existence. That is your “I,” and at the same time it includes everything.

Portrait after Frans Hals from Wikipedia

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

DC at book event in Sanur - Zoom link

Topic: A Conversation with David Chadwick at Talking Leaves Bali

Time: Feb 8, 2026 02:00 PM Asia/Makassar (that's 10pm Feb.7 West Coast US)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89286831257?pwd=JbW4Y2PCpoQ1Gg9cByanGkSZ2SAEqz.1

Meeting ID: 892 8683 1257

Passcode: 754279

Watching Water

Bodhidharma, the first Chinese patriarch, said, “If you want to see a fish, you have to watch water.” If you want to see a fish, you have to watch water before you’ll see any fish. If you want to see buddha-nature, you have to see your small mind before you see buddha-nature. Actually, when you see water, there is true fish. Here, by “fish” he meant “true nature.” If you want to see true nature, when you see the water, there is true nature. The true nature is watching water. You are watching water. At the same time, true nature is watching water.

Image generated by Google Gemini

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

Zen Conversations and Profiles - Richard Baker

Rick McDaniel's Zen Conversations and Profiles' excellent piece on Richard Baker.

He interviewed Baker for this not that long after Baker's stroke last spring. Nicole Baden was there and helped out some but Baker is candid and open in a way that's impressive to me. - DC

Richard Baker cuke page

Actual Mind

The most important thing is to understand our true mind or inmost nature in our practice. How we understand our actual mind should be the most important point. That is why Zen emphasizes living in each moment.

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

Richard Jaffe was a student at the San Francisco Zen Center for years. He went on to become a leading Buddhist scholar who has spent a lot of time in Japan and knows Buddhism and especially Soto Zen there thoroughly in Japanese. He’s a professor of religion at Duke University, retiring this or next year. His first book was Neither Monk nor Layman: Clerical Marriage in Modern Japanese Buddhism followed by collections of the writings of D.T. Suzuki. On Duke’s site it says: Richard Jaffe specializes in the study of Buddhism in early modern and modern Japan. In particular he has focused his research and teaching on the transformations that took place in Japanese Buddhist practice in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Jaffe's current research centers on the role of D.T. Suzuki in the globalization of Japanese Buddhism in the twentieth century. He also has questions for me later on in this podcast.

A Dissection

Science or philosophy is like a dissection. It is possible to analyze what we did after we did something. It is possible. But it is already a dead corpse [laughs] a dead corpse of our practice. So even if you analyze what you have done, it will not work. It will not help you so much.

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp

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

Your Mind

Don’t be bothered by your mind!

Drawing by Stan White

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

Not Sport

Student: Well, in judo if you’re good you get a black belt, so— [laughter]. SR: No—Zen is not physical training. Zen is not sport [laughs, laughter].

Image generated by Leonardo.ai

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Teaching

Our teaching is not, “You should do like this,” or “Society should be like this,” or “Human beings should be like this.” We do not have this kind of thinking or idea. When we take off the cover, when we forget all about our teaching, that is heaven [laughs] for us. But it does not mean we do not want a cover. We want it. But when we enjoy Buddhism, there must not be any teaching.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Remember Eldon Pura?

 Jed Linde sent me this 2018 obituary for Eldon Pura who used to do electrical and heavy equipment work at Tassajara. He was a farmer in Greenfield too and students would go there and help him make wine including barefoot stomping on grapes. He'd just drive in sometimes and join us for lunch bringing a jug of his wine and have to be reminded we didn't drink alcohol. A great guy. This is all in the 2nd Tassajara Stories book.

Same Under Heaven

Everyone is the same under heaven. Everyone is the same in the common bathtub in Japan [laughing]. Do you know the Japanese common bath? There may be five or six people in a big bathtub. They’re enjoying it, washing and talking. It’s wonderful. That is our ideal. And even so, when we do not use the bathtub, we want a cover on it. When people get into it, we should take off the cover and enjoy the bath with people as friends. There is no rich person or poor person in the common bath when they are naked. And they can talk about anything in the common bathtub. Even so, when we do not use it, there should be a cover on it.

Image generated by Google Gemini

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

No Secret

We cannot change someone’s character or what they did or will do. It is very difficult. But there is no need to change anyone. If they have right understanding of their character, that’s good enough. So as a conclusion: to put in a high place things we should put in a high place. Something which should be put in a low place should be put at a low place, that is our religion. There is no secret.

Image generated by Google Gemini

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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

Shinshu Roberts  was at the SFZC for years and 18 years ago founded the Ocean Gate Zen Center on 41st Avenue in Capitola next to Santa Cruz with her partner Jake Kinst. The website is oceangatezen.org. She recently published Meeting the Myriad Things: A Zen Practitioner’s Guide to Dogen’s Genjokoan. She worked for years on the Shunryu Suzuki archives. Hear about that and more in this podcast.

Wake Up!

The missionary spirit is not just to spread some teaching of Buddha or to force something on people or to do something in the name of the missionary work. That is not fair. When someone wants something, a teacher should be prepared to give something. And, if they are lazy, he should strike them [laughs]. That is all right. If he’s sleeping: “Don't sleep. Get up!” [Laughs.]

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Incessant Activity

A student asked: What happens if a person dies without realizing his buddha-nature? What happens to his buddha-nature? 

What happens to buddha-nature? Nothing happens to it. It is always the same and constant. Buddha-nature is always taking activity. It is in incessant activity. There are not two buddha-natures. There is only one buddha-nature for everyone, for everything. And it is always in incessant activity. Even when we are sleeping, it is in activity.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

The Religious Experience

If someone is great, if you have some good example, it will give you some encouragement. But just an intellectual correction will not help you so much. So, we say that is not enough. The religious experience is something more than that and something different, completely different from our intellect or emotional feeling. So, we should not ignore our intellect, but we should not be limited. Our faculties should not be limited to the emotional or intellectual realms.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Correction

Scientific research or intellectual understanding of religion is not always wrong. We have intellect to correct our emotional faculty, which is sometimes not so clear or correct. Some correction is wanted for the emotional functions of our mind, or else we won’t know whether what we feel is right or wrong. That is a characteristic of the emotional functions. It may be necessary to correct them so that we can rely on our emotional faculty. But even though intellectual understanding can correct our emotional faculty, that correction will not help much unless we realize the original—the true nature of ourselves.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Quite Different

To pursue beauty or truth or good is different from the pursuit of holy nature within ourselves. The way is different. But there is no conflict because the pursuit of truth or good or beauty is based on our inmost nature. There should not be a conflict, unless your conclusion invades religious feelings. As long as your pursuit is limited to your own way, there is no conflict. If science is just science, and if philosophers are just philosophers, and religious people accept the conclusions of scientists and philosophers, there is no conflict. And it should be so. Pursuit of knowledge and pursuit of holiness are quite different things.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

In Your Heart

It will easily become delusion—misunderstanding—if you attach to a statement. If you realize something in your heart, in your sight, “This is it,” that is the teaching. What I say is not [laughs]. It’s just a suggestion. “Have you something like this?” I say to you. And if you say, “Oh, yes, I have the same thing here,” that is true teaching. That is so-called enlightenment.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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

June Crow began her study and practice of Buddhism in l968 when she met Shunryu Suzuki. She was known as June Omura back then. I, DC, remember her from Tassajara in the early seventies. She met Chogyam Trungpa of the Tibetan Kagyu and Nyingma lineage at Tassajara and became his student and a meditation instructor and teacher with his group. She’s still actively teaching with it today, living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Trungpa moved his Shambhala center long ago. Hear about this and more in this podcast conversation with June and me.

Hint

Teaching is the teaching, period. Your conduct should not be based on just verbal teaching. Your inmost nature will tell you. That is true teaching. What I say is not true teaching. I just give you a hint, you know.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Your Own Idea

When you say something or when you try to figure out what our teaching is or what is our way, already there is some—your own idea is in it. In that case, it will not work [laughs].

Photo by Betty Warren

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Stop

Stop everything [laughs] —completely. Because we can stop it, because we do not even try to stop it—just to practice, you know. We don’t try to stop anything. We do not try to stop even. As long as you try to stop something, it will not work.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Karma

Our purpose of zazen is to get out of the usual understanding of creating or destroying, or this kind of scientific philosophical thinking. When we are free from this thinking, there is no creation and no destruction. We are always free from those defilements. And we know this is our true nature. When we know that there is no more continuity of karma, we can stop karma. Even for a moment you can do it.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Habits

The purpose of our practice is to cut down completely habitual power [laughs]. To be completely free from our habitual energy or whatever it is— habits—habitual power, which is so-called karma. At least we should know that we are intrinsically free from karma. Karma is something which we create—we create karma, and we suffer from it.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.

Hope

There must be some hope to live, some hope to be saved. Even though one admits to being sinful, they still have hope of being saved or else they cannot exist. At the same time, if one says, “For me, there is no sinful life. I am quite safe. Whatever I do, it’s all right.” That is also crazy. If you think after you’re enlightened you can do whatever you like, that is a big mistake [laughter].

Photo by Rowena Pattee (Kryder)

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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

Helena Bee has been in charge of online programs for the San Francisco Zen Center for four years. Her practice has been centered at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center since she first went with friends as a guest. This podcast is a conversation rather than an interview.

Sin and Enlightenment

Sin and enlightenment are the two sides of one coin. When you say you are sinful, you have enlightenment. Enlightened mind says you are sinful. The Pure Land sect emphasizes this. And they try to turn this side into the other side. That is possible because it is two sides of one coin. It is the same thing, actually the same thing.

—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the image. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-29-C 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.