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A Letter from David Chadwick
Dear Friend,
On a summer day in 1966, at the age of 21, I
decided to check out one last meditation group
before heading to India
to seek a guru. I rang the bell of San
Francisco Zen Center's
temple on Bush Street and soon forgot my plans for
India. I marvel now at how fortunate I was to have
walked through that doorway, met Shunryu Suzuki
Roshi, and all the inspiring fellow students,
friends, and teachers in the times that followed.
Two decades after Suzuki's death, I started to
collect and organize the stories and lectures from
which was born Crooked Cucumber: the Life and Zen
Teaching of
Shunryu Suzuki. Twenty years since then, this effort
continues - adding to and working with the archive
of his life and teaching, collecting the memories of
those who knew him and of that unique and amazing
time.
Now at the beginning of my 67th year, I begin to
wrap up my contribution to preserving the legacy of
Shunryu Suzuki. My intention is to create a more
complete, better organized, more easily accessed and
shared presentation of the Crooked Cucumber Archives
over the next 3 years, by the time I'm 70 .
I will:
- Overhaul and integrate the websites cuke.com and
shunryusuzuki.com for a clearer presentation of the
material including talks, photos, audio, video, and
links to complementary resources.
- Find and make available more Suzuki Roshi
lectures, quotes, and teaching stories, as much as I
can before our memories and lives have vanished.
- Create a companion volume to Crooked
Cucumber and another book of vignettes to
follow Zen is Right Here.
In order to accomplish all this I need your help.
This project requires not only resolve and focus,
but money as well. As of the new year I lost the
serendipitous, rent-free living situation that had
supported me for nearly a decade. Now I need
your support: for work space, tools to work with,
technical and clerical assistance, website
development, storage, transportation, and basic
needs.
If you're
on my mailing list, most likely you're someone who
has been touched by Suzuki Roshi and by the results
of this work over the years. I've asked for very
little support in the past, but now I'm asking with
forthrightness.
Both one-time and recurring tax- deductible
donations will help keep the work moving through
a fund administered by John Tarrant and Michael
Katz. Please be a part of this project. Click
here to help provide the financial support.
For more on the people involved, tasks and goals,
schedule of work, progress reports, supporters and
statements of support, budget, and status of
fundraising, go to
cuke.com/do-it.
Thanks and a deep bow,
David Chadwick
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David Chadwick and the Legacy of Shunryu
Suzuki
by Michael Katz
Please join me in supporting
the work of David Chadwick on the legacy of his
teacher, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. David recently lost his
rent-free living and working situation, but he has
been doing work of great value without name,
description, or paycheck for many years.
David continues to seek out and
interview every person Shunryu Suzuki knew or
practiced with long after his books stopped supporting
him. He’s had occasional help from individuals and
Zen centers in Suzuki’s lineage, but, basically, he
runs on a frayed shoe-string.
Naturally suited to this task by his
gift for forming connections with people, David
follows his subjects and dharma friends wherever they
go. He bridges all of the groups which practice
Suzuki’s teaching, stays in touch with early sangha
members, regularly visits them in old folks homes and
hospices, ensures that none feel, or are, forgotten,
recording and adding their latest recollections to the
record.
More than an oral historian, David is
unofficial guardian angel of Shunryu Suzuki’s lecture
archive, bringing his indispensible long-term
familiarity. David’s continuing devotion as
chronicler, archivist, and storyteller reveals an
ever-greater teacher. The record of Suzuki Roshi’s
life and teaching is an inexhaustible source for any
seeker.
David has put online the larger record
of Suzuki Roshi’s life and teaching, completely free.
His many layered website, Cuke.com, is full of
treasure, and David has begun to overhaul the site to
make it easier to use. Also, David will publish in
book form the best new stories from the interviews as
well as further notes to Crooked Cucumber.
Please help me support David’s
activity. I know that the community of those
interested in Shunryu Suzuki is large and generous
enough to accomplish this. A few people can give
thousands, some a few hundred, and many can give small
recurring payments. We can make this work. As a start,
let’s see David through the next three years'
projected work that he describes in his own letter.
Thank you for giving this matter your kind attention,
Michael Katz
click
here to donate.
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There are many ways to donate.
-You may
click here (or above) to donate or set up a
recurring payment using PayPal.
-You may send a check to the Crooked Cucumber
Archives Fund, administered by Michael Katz and John
Tarrant, at
Crooked Cucumber Archives
PO Box 151471
(new box #)
San Rafael, CA 94915
-You may contact the treasurer John Rauck directly at
johnrauck@gmail.com or phone him
at 415-883-9463
All donations are tax deductible through Pacific Zen
Institute which is a 501C3 tax exempt organization.
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(you can click
this image too)
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This appeal was designed by Rachel Boughton and
sponsored by Pacific Zen Institute
www.pacificzen.org
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When we do something we should do it completely,
with our whole body and mind. Like a good
bonfire, you should burn yourself completely so
you will have no trace of yourself in what you
did. This is the goal of our practice. -Shunryu
Suzuki Roshi, 1966 |
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by John Tarrant
Director
Pacific Zen Institute
Because Suzuki Roshi shaped
the coming of Buddhism to America.
Because all the Buddhist
lineages in the West were touched by
Suzuki Roshi's work.
Because David Chadwick is
himself a living treasure-a passionate
historian who has worked tirelessly to
collect anecdotes, writings, and interviews
and everything Suzuki Roshi.
Because David Chadwick is
one of those people who knows and stays in
contact with vast numbers of people, in
his case, everyone to do with Suzuki Roshi
and his world, and has made this his
life's work.
Because David Chadwick's
work makes people happy by showing us how to
live beyond selfish concerns: David takes up
any necessary task with both humility and
glee. He is as inspiring with a broom in his
hand, or looking after the sick, as he is
preserving Suzuki archive materials and
writing notable books.
Because at this unique
moment in time we have a chance to make a
contribution to something wonderful.
Please send your contribution today. Do
it now, as Suzuki Roshi was fond of
saying.
With deep appreciation and affection,
John Tarrant, Roshi
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Sweet Pleasure in the Teachings
by Jack Kornfield,
Founder
Spirit Rock Center
It is a sweet pleasure to write this letter in
support of David Chadwick. David's work, both as
an author and an archivist, has for over 20
years shaped the way we understand the genesis
of American Buddhism. His humor and compassion
and personal honesty touch my heart. His
meticulous documenting of the life and times of
Suzuki
Roshi helps us all to appreciate the profound
beauty of Suzuki Roshi's work, and his Dharma
which is both simple and deep.
Suzuki Roshi's teachings show how to practice
clarity and kindness in human life. They
encourage us to help each other and make it easier
for all of us to be Bodhisttavas. Suzuki's work
as David shows, is a treasure, an invaluable
part of the modern Buddhist Canon, and the talks
are as alive today as when they were first
given. I heartily encourage you to
support David's dedication and work to
preserve these teachings for generations ahead.
With Metta,
Jack Kornfield
Spirit Rock Center
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 Crooked Cucumber Archives Project |
PO Box 151521 | San
Rafael | CA
| 94915
Please send the link to this page to
anyone you think would be interested in seeing this appeal to continue our
work to preserve the legacy of Shunryu Suzuki.
(I almost never forward anything).- thanks, DC
November 2012
Fundraising Drive Notes
11-14-12 - November is fundraising month for the Crooked Cucumber
Archives (CCA) but so far have only been able to get around to writing
notes like this. Getting a new Netbook set up has been imperitive since
the old one barely got started last time (turned off all sleep functions
and it's been full on during this transition. There are time consuming
compatibility issues with programs I'm used to and Windows 7. Moving
storage from Santa Rosa to San Rafael is taking time but is going to be
a big plus to have it all nearby and spread out where things can be
found. And then keeping the daily posts going here and keeping up with
volunteers and communications. Not complaining, just explaining. - dc
11-08-12 - November is cuke survival month. We want to continue. Please
Donate
Must force myself to take time and energy from getting cuke tasks done
with the lecture work and oral history in order to have the funds to
keep going.
Still, got archives moved yesterday from packed Santa Rosa space to
more spacious storage in San Rafael where they will be near and neatly
arranged - taken out of their can and spread out. There's more moving
and organizing to do but this is a great start.
11-07-12 - Post election November is cuke survival month.
We want to continue. Please
Donate. More to come on this. Thanks. - dc
cuke.com 2012
Do-it
section with
Goals -
Supporters -
Budget -
Contributors -
Posts and DONATE
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Crooked Cucumber Archives
