Why We Help Others

Why we help others is not only to help others but also to try not to have a regretful life. 

Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-27-B as found on shunryusuzuki.com -  - Excerpt edited by DC 

Wonder What That Was

Morning market. Waiting for a woman in her fruit stall to fill the four glasses with snapping lids full of coconut water and then to prepare some jackfruit - extracting the slimy pieces with clear plastic bags on her hands to avoid direct contact with the persistant glue-like substance around the edible. Walk to another stall to get some jeruk nipis, limes. A woman makes a whooping sound. Then another. I turn around to face the room and listen to many women whooping from their tables and stalls. It subsided soon. Very nice - but what was that about? I didn't ask.

Herding Flies at Tassajara

We used to herd flies at Tassajara. There used to be a lot more flies there. Just regular houseflies.

Ruth Denison RIP

Ruth Denison (that's a Wikipedia link) passed on yesterday - first to lead an all woman Buddhist meditation retreat. Searching cuke archives only find she studied with Charlotte Selver and is mentioned in passing in a letter from Anagarika Govinda to Richard Baker. - DC

Misunderstanding Zen

This misunderstanding you have about Zen: Zen, oh, Zen is wonderful [laughs]. Whatever you do, that is Zen [laughing]. Even though you are doing something wrong, that is Zen. Whatever you do is Zen. That is why I like Zen. This kind of misunderstanding I think you will have about Zen. But what we actually mean is quite opposite. 

Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-27-B as found on shunryusuzuki.com -  - Excerpt edited by DC 

Hard at Work

At the Art Cafe on Jalan Danau Tamblingan (street) in Sanur doing hours of vital work on my Zenbook laptop. Overcaste. Cool breeze. Loose leaf black tea followed by mixed juice - no sugar, no ice. Music of contemporary Gus Teja playing. A tiny preying mantis just landed on my left hand index finger - never saw anything like this before - maybe a sixteenth of an inch. Obviously an interloper from a parallel miniature universe. I'm siting by a wall with plants on the other side and moved my hand to a leaf and it hopped on.

Paradoxical Expression

There is always paradox in philosophical study. It cannot be helped. And there, there is truth. Where there is paradox there is truth - if you have eyes to see [laughs]. But as long as you are confined in philosophical study, you will have no eyes to see through the paradoxical statement. Philosophy is good because it is paradoxical. So we Buddhists apply paradoxical expression as philosophers do. And we do not think that is paradoxical.

Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-26 as found on shunryusuzuki.com -  - Excerpt edited by DC 

From Thunder to Trudging

There was so much thunder and lightning last night. It lit up the sky toward the sea and the land and didn't go away. Hours.

Inmost Nature

We have true nature. Whatever you do, even though you not do anything, your true nature is in incessant activity. Even though you are sleeping, it is quite active. Your thinking, your sensations are superficial activities of yourself, but your inmost nature is always working. Even though you die, it is working. I don’t mean some, you know, soul, but something always in incessant work. Whatever you call it, spirit or soul, I don’t mind. You can put many names to it, or give it various interpretations. That is intellect. Whatever you call it, inmost nature itself doesn’t mind.

Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 65-07-15 as found on shunryusuzuki.com -  - Excerpt edited by DC

A Perfect Fit

Took our self-prepared visa extensions in to the Immigration Office today and they were accepted as is with a kind request that I get Katrinka to sign hers next time.