John Eric Nelson Memorial

John Eric Nelson cuke page

with more photos and memories

Miss you John! - DC

Not the Goal

Emptiness is not the goal of practice or purpose or aim of activity. The only way to realize the absolute is through our practice-- in its true sense.  -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-08-25 as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Buddhamama Burl

She's all dressed up at the Backporch Zendo Occidental California.

BPZ Facebook page

Buddhamama Burl page on cuke

Back Porch Zendo is a mom and pop neighborhood zendo founded by Ken and Elizabeth Sawyer in 2004. We meet on Monday nights at 6:30 and end at 8:30. We sit zazen together followed by a Soto Zen service then we have tea/treat and read/discuss Buddhist literature. We have a one day sitting once a month on the first Sunday of the month from 9-5:15. Well being ceremony is performed every week. Other ceremonies by request or by whim

Cannot

All what you do is somethingness [laughs], and you cannot understand emptiness. So that is why it is called emptiness.  -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-08-25 as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Somethingness

All that we do or all that we think is not absolute itself. So there is no reason why we should attach to it. The only thing we should observe is as a absolute is emptiness, which is the absolute in its true sense, which is quite different from somethingness, you know [laughs].  -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-08-25 as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Back to the first power

And the first power of a Buddha, devotion to the Buddha's teaching and no attachment to anything. This is our practice, which cannot compare with any other activities we have or any other effort we make.  -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-08-25 as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

The Ten Powers of a Buddha

One is the devotion to the Buddha's teaching and no attachment to anything else. The second one is increasing one's devotion. The third is expedient ability to instruct people and alter their conduct. The fourth one is understanding what people think. And fifth is satisfying people with what they want. And sixth-- no cessation] of exertion. The seventh one including all vehicles or all teachings without giving-up Mahayana way. The eighth one is mysterious power of showing the appearance of the Buddha in every world in every pore of the body. The ninth is making people turn towards Buddhism and leading people to perfection. The last one is satisfying all kinds of people with even a single phrase. Those are ten powers.   -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-08-25 as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

First Power

This morning I want to continue the explanation of the ten powers. This-- those ten powers are that of bodhisattva's ten powers.
One is the devotion to the Buddha's teaching and no attachment to anything else.   -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-08-25 as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Forget

Especially for young people, it is necessary to try very hard to achieve something. And you must stretch out your arms and legs as wide as they will go. (Demonstrating.) Form is form. You must be true to your own way until at last you actually come to the point where you see it is necessary to forget all about yourself.

Until you come to this point,
______________________
[From Trudy Dixon's handwritten note in an early manuscript of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. The note is to insert this into the "No Dualism" chapter and says "From Roshi's lecture, Aug. 4, '68, in S.F." The rest of the lecture has not been found.]   -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-08-04 as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC 

Helping

You should be able to accept things as it is, and you should be able to help others in various ways, not just by sitting. So although we have no koan, we have various kinds of ways of helping people, not just by sitting.   -------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-07-24 as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC