Stone

Each seed, or each plant, has its own character and its own color. If it is a stone garden, each stone has its own character. A long stone has a solemn, profound feeling; a round one expresses perfection; a square one expresses some rigidness or feeling of austerity. If it has moss on it, it has some deep, profound, mystical spirit to it. Those are the characters of each material you use in your garden . ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-09-08 as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC - Many Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. Going slowly through Suzuki transcripts featuring whatever is next that seems okay.

Report on Grahame Petchey Cremation

Grahame Petchey's body was cremated yesterday, February 27, at Greenwood Cemetery in Mill Valley, California. 

Reb Anderson officiated. Also there from Green Gulch were Linda Ruth Cutts, Reb’s assistant Sonja Gardenswartz, his Jisha Valerian and Kōgen Dito-Keith. 

Also attending were Grahame's daughters Julia Petchey and Suzanne Petchey, and former wives Pauline Petchey and Hideko Oga who brought their disabled son Mark. Julia and Suzanne made statements. Julia brought Grahame’s okesa which was draped over the simple coffin box. There was a photograph set up, incense offerings, we chanted the Daihishin Dharani and the 10 names of Buddha. Reb made several different statements including the acknowledgment of the great pain Grahame had been in and his facing it. Then at the end Reb removed the okesa and we waited while the box was rolled into the retort (which is what the cremation chamber is called). The box had a spray of Mimosa in bloom on it. - thanks Eijun Linda Ruth Cutts

Photo - Sotan Tatsugami, Grahame Petchey, Phillip Wilson at Eiheiji 1964

Grahame Petchey cuke page

RIP Eido Tai Shimano

Eido Tai Shimano founded the New York Zen Studies and Daibozatsu Zendo

Tricycle - The Death of a Problematic Pioneer, Eido Tai Shimano Rosh

NY Times - Eido Shimano, Buddhist Leader Who Resigned in Scandal, Dies at 85

Cuke DC Interview with Eido

Wikipedia

Hawaii Star Advertiser

Cremation for Grahame Petchey

There will be a cremation ceremony for Grahame tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1:00pm  2-27-18 at Fernwood Cemetary in Mill Valley.

FERNWOOD CEMETERY AND FUNERAL HOME  
301 Tennessee Valley Road
Mill Valley, CA 94941

415-968-0554

Photo at Rinsoin, Yaizu, 1964 - L to R: Shunryu & Hoitsu Suzuki , unknown, Grahame & Pauline Petchey, Phillip Wilson, Claude Dalenberg.

Grahame Petchey cuke page

Garden

People may say if the purpose of Zen is to see “things as it is,” then there is no need to practice. That is the big problem. I think in your everyday life, the root practice may be to raise flowers or to grow your garden. That is, I think, the best practice. You know, when you sow a seed, you have to wait for the seed to come up. And if it comes up, you have take care of it. That is our practice. Just to sow a seed is not enough. To take care of it day after day is very important for the good gardener. For a gardener, it is necessary to take care of the garden every day. Even though you have finished making that garden, it is necessary to take care of it. So I think our way is nearly the same as making your own garden, or raising some vegetables or flowers.  ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-09-08 as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC - Many Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. Going slowly through Suzuki transcripts featuring whatever is next that seems okay.

Difficult

Anyway, it is rather difficult to see “things as it is,” because seeing “things as it is” is not just the activity of our sight or eyes. This is why we put emphasis on practice. To do something without thinking is the most important point in understanding ourselves. Since it is difficult to see “things as it is,” we should practice our way. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-09-08 as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC - Many Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. Going slowly through Suzuki transcripts featuring whatever is next that seems okay.

Notes on Crooked Cucumber

Just finished getting Notes on Crooked Cucumber up to date. Put the following in Notes on Notes:

2-25-18 - Been adding a little bit here and there to the notes since 2012 but this year added a lot and am satisfied with it for now. The reason for this is that late last year I read over the whole book carefully for a Japanese translation that's getting finalized. Initially was just looking for what needed to be added for a Japanese translation. Added more names of people, temples, places. But made comments and corrections where I found that was needed. I always wanted to do it thoroughly; It was a lot of work with Peter Ford getting the pages right. Actually there aren't so many. A lot of errors were just fixed if no note was necessary. They can all be found at Errata for CC and there's lots there. Found some errors going over the book and then more just going over the notes.

Catch

So when you want to see, or be sure of, your mind, you cannot catch it. But when you just do something, and when your mind is just acting as it is, that is how you catch your mind in the true sense. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-09-08 as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC - Many Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. Going slowly through Suzuki transcripts featuring whatever is next that seems okay.

College Story

One day, when I was listening to a psychology lecture, the teacher said, “It is impossible to catch our mind exactly. It is especially impossible to know what we have done. The mind which acted some time ago, the mind which belongs to the past, is impossible to catch. And even the mind which is acting right now is impossible to catch, actually.” So I thought, “no wonder it is so difficult for me to understand my mind.” And I gave up trying to be sure of my way-seeking mind. Since then I have done things, without thinking, just because they were good. And, at the same time, whether or not people saw me was not my problem anymore.  ------------------------------------------------------------------ Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-09-08 as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC - Many Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts on cuke.com - from there links to much more. Going slowly through Suzuki transcripts featuring whatever is next that seems okay.

Richard Baker's poem for Grahame Petchey

Julia Petchey read this poem from Richard to Grahame a couple of days before Grahame died. He died yesterday. See yesterday's post. This is the only photo I could find with both Richard behind Suzuki and Grahame to his right. Sokoji, 1964. View larger and see names.

Grahame Petchey page