12/31/99--Happy New Millennium! Been in bed since Xmas with the flu. Doc says I got pneumonia. But will be back soon. Till then be well.--DC 

12/25/99--Merry Christmas to all!

12/23/99--A plug for Brush Dance in Sangha News. A few Readers' Comments. A Zinfandel (see two lines below) is a Buddhist infidel.

12/22/99--See Sangha News. 

What's a Zinfandel? 

Help cuke.com and Suzuki Roshi archiving. See the obvious note below.

12?21/99--Another Five Earlier Wind Bell Excerpts [not there anymore] from Suzuki Lectures (June through October, 1962).

12/18/99--Interview with JS (semi-anonymous). 

12/17/99--A new, improved, shorter letter seeking financial support for the Cucumber Project (see note from 12/15 below). Feedback and contributions encouraged. 

Coming: a new interview, next in the Suzuki-roshi lectures series, another review from the past.

12/16/99--See Digressions to learn about the biggest brightest moon in 133 years.

12/15/99--Please help to continue this web site and the ongoing effort to collect, organize, and present the oral history surrounding Shunryu Suzuki. Support the Cucumber Project (Crooked Cucumber Oral History Project). Your contributions are tax deductible. Go to Cucumber Project to read my end of the year fund raising letter, description of the project, and letters of support. Thank you.--DC

12/14/99--A February review of Crooked Cucumber from Library Journal.

12/13/99-A long interview with Kathy Cook.

12/10/99--Recent review of Crooked Cucumber in San Francisco's Nob Hill Gazette by Sandor Burstein. See About the Author for photos of DC. More reviews from the past and photos of self and others to follow. Just messing around with the scanner. More interviews sooner.

12/09/99--An excerpt about a 1963 Suzuki visit to the Cambridge Buddhist Association from Elsie Mitchell's Sun Buddhas Moon Buddhas: a Zen Quest. Also see it's entry in the bibliography.

12/08/99--Crooked Cucumber makes #3 on Amazon.com's Best Eastern Religion Books of 1999. Also included is Amazon.com's review of CC from last February. See Readers' Comments and Sangha News.

12/06/99--Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche on Shunryu Suzuki Roshi in an excerpt from Born in Tibet.  See digressions for DC comment on what's happening.

12/01/99--New mini Suzuki Roshi Lectures [not there anymore--new ones] from early Wind Bells and a Readers' Comment. 

November

11/30/99--A New Section called Excerpts which has the Introduction to Crooked Cucumber and a couple of new entries to the Contest.

11/29/99--Some Readers' Comments.

11/28/99--Read the entries to the What's Happening on the Cover contest. It will close soon. Don't be shy!--DC

Also, I put on a page for Dharma groups in or related to Shunryu Suzuki's lineage (online or off) [see permanent spot above] and made the Links Page easier to use to find Zen and Buddhist links through other sites.

11/27/99--A review of Crooked Cucumber from the Monterey Peninsula Herald, April 11th (I think), 199. Just doing some catching up.

11/25/99--A new and improved Bibliography page. Same books, new presentation. Lots more to go.

11/24/99--A Readers' Comment prompts a new Suzuki Roshi Lecture policy.

11/23/99--An interview with Eido Shimano Roshi of the Zen Studies Society in New York City and Daibosatsu Monastery in the Catskills.

11/22/99--Just been working on the site. See Tech Talk and click the link by the cover of the book to see it enlarged.--DC

11/21/99--Readers' Comments (at least look at the first one) and, in the Development section, comments about Marketing.

11/18/99--Readers' Comments and Sangha News and  some helpful suggestions about cuke.com under Development.

11/16/99--Letters from and interview with Irene Horowitz, old-time Suzuki student.

11/12/99--A series of letters from Frank Anderton, Oklahoma Suzuki student. A note in Readers' Comments.

11/11/99--Some Readers' Comments and Sangha News. And there's a new Development Section. And because of this new section and the work I've been doing on it and on putting its links in (which I don't quite have down), this page is being worked on and will take a few days to get in its new form.--DC

11/10/99--Sangha News from Japan

11/09/99--A letter from Rick Levine, former Suzuki Roshi student and keen observer..

11/06/99--More Readers' Comments.

11/05/99--An interesting letter from Taigen Dan Leighton in Readers' Comments.

11/04/99--A few Readers' Comments, one with a great dharma link: Dharma the Cat ... and a note on the Dogen Conference in Sangha News.

11/02/99--An interesting letter from an old Suzuki student.

11/01/99--Interview with Tomoe Katagiri, widow of Dainin Katagiri Roshi.

October

10/28/99--A couple of Suzuki stone stories. See Jake Fishman in interviews.

10/27/99--Interview with Joanne Kyger, poet and long time Buddhist.

10/26/99--A letter with further info for the Seiyo Tsuji interview. Also, some Sangha News including a brief report on the Dogen Zen conference at Stanford, and a few Readers' Comments.

10/25/99--Interview with Otohiro Suzuki, Shunryu's youngest son.

10/22/99--More Sangha News.

10/21/99--More Sangha News including info on this coming weekend's Dogen Zen Conference.

The Publisher's Weekly Review of the new book of Suzuki-roshi lectures, Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness is now included on the Branching Streams page.

10/20/99--Important Sangha News.

10/19/99--To get info on the English paperback edition of Crooked Cucumber go to Readers' Comments or to Links though there's more on it under Readers' Comments. I need another section for it but that's the best I can do now. Go to Digressions where I have more to say about that and some other things including thoughts about the struggle between the independents and the big guys in the bookselling world. And there's an exchange between Robert Halpern and me in Readers' Comments as well. Also look under Links for the San Francisco Zen Center's site which also has a lot of good stuff and more links. I might as well put it here too: http://sfzc.org/. --DC

10/18/99--The new book of Suzuki-roshi lectures is about out. For more info (ripped off from amazon.com) go to Bibliography--Branching Streams.

Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness by Shunryu Suzuki
Mel Weitsman & Michael Wenger (Editors)
$22.50 Paperback - 197 pages (November 1999)
University of California Press 
ISBN: 0520219821

Also, a couple of Readers' Comments.

10/16/99--A couple of Readers' Comments.

10/14/99--An interview with Jerry Fuller, dear dharma bro gone beyond.

10/13/99--A letter with background comments on Shunryu Suzuki's family by translator Fred Harriman.

10/12/99--Some Readers' Comments. 

An embarrassed message about the continuing saga of the Crooked Cucumber Contest (below) and a new promise to make good on past promises in the spirit of "You have definitely just won $1,000,000,000,000,000,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Speaking of broken promises--for better and for worse, in sickness and in health, till death do us part--happy Columbus Day to Howard Zinn, the meek, and to all. (Oh, that's why there was no mail).

And happy birthday Daddy (wherever whoever whatever you are). Thanks for putting me on the path. Where is it again? (Crash!) --DC

10/11/99--An interview by Fred Harriman with Hoitsu Suzuki, son of Shunryu Suzuki and heir to his temple in Japan.

10/08/99--See Sangha News for a slightly belated congratulations to Zentatsu Richard and Marie Louise Baker on their recent betrothal.  

Also, please go to the same page to read about a Traffic Accident Victim Awareness Day here in Sebastopol California in honor of Mark Petchey, son of old Suzuki-roshi student Grahame Petchey--also, an update on Mark's condition and how you can contribute to the Mark A. Petchey Trust.

10/06/99--I'm back, just getting caught up. Thanks a million to Jamie for keeping this site going while I was in Europe. All I did today was to get some last minute changes to Broadway books which can be found in the Errata section. Will try to get one last report about my trip to Europe up. Gotta put this site in slow mode though while I get these proposals out for 1. a new book and 2. the Cucumber Project (same proposal as put here before). 

10/02/99--Today we've got a report from David who's having a great time in Germany and a letter from Masaji Yamada to DC concerning Suzuki Roshi.

September

9/30/99--Here's a new report from David, including some freaky goings-on at October-fest.--Jamie

I've also added an interview with Masaji Yamada, a sponsor of Rinsoin.

9/29/99-Bill Redican has provided new news on the new fires around Tassajara.

9/28/99--Today there's a report in Digressions from David in Germany.  Also, I've added part two and part three of the interview with Taro Kato.

9/26/99--A new interview with Taro Kato, the son of one of Shunryu Suzuki's best friends.

9/25/99--An interview with Yasumasa Amada of the Takakusayamakai, the High Grass Mt. Group.

9/24/99-Hopefully, this is the final bulletin on the fire near Tassajara.  Looks like everything's going to be fine.

Also, an interview with three members of the High Grass Mountain Group.

9/23/99--A note from David in Germany.  He says the Tassajara fire made the German edition of USA Today.

A nice note from Mushim Ikeda-Nash is in Reader's Comments.

Also, there is a new interview with Genichi Amano.  New interviews every day for the next week or so!

9/22/99--The latest news on the Tassajara Fire is here. 

9/20/99--Go to Digressions for updates on DC's trip to Germany to attend Zentatsu Baker-roshi's wedding.

9/19/99--I'm going to Germany for two weeks tomorrow morning--to Zentatsu Richard Baker-roshi's wedding! Jamie will put on some Japan interviews (that I'm getting ready now) while I'm gone and I'll be getting email so if I have time I'll send him messages from you and me to put on but who knows. And Bill Redican at SFZC will email Jamie fire news to go on if it's important, but Jamie has a job AND he's got that carpel tunnel problem so we don't know how active the site will be. Let's pray for him and Tassajara and wait and see. 

In the meantime, here are a few Readers' Comments and great news for me from my publisher, Broadway Books,  regarding Errata.

9/18/99--update on the Tassajara Fire (so named by the Forest Service even though it might not get to Tassajara). Lots more photos and a new report on the Forest Service's web site. 

9/17/99--5:00--Photos, maps, and more. Another hot website to access Tass fire info--from Bill R.

1:00--More links to firefighting web sites from Diane Renshaw.

12:00 PM--Tassajara Fire report from Bill Redican at SFZC.

10:00 AM--Tassajara Fire report from Bill Redican at SFZC.

9/16/99--Teacher and Disciple, the oldest extant Shunryu Suzuki lecture--December, 1961 [lectures rotate--this one's no longer on--DC]. A brief follow-up note in Reader's Comments from Gary Snyder. A couple of comments on how some folks are doing in Sangha News.

9/16/99--11AM: Update on Tassajara fire from Keith at Jamesburg.

10AM: Update on the forest fire.

9/15/99--3PM--There's a forest fire moving toward Tassajara and everyone is being evacuated right now. It's in Sangha News under it's own page: Tassajara Forest Fire.

4PM: Update on the fire.

9/14/99--A new story under Suzuki Stories and a reader's comment.

9/13/99--a message from Gary Snyder about the term Crooked Cucumber in Readers' Comments. As a result of that, the first entry under Author's Notes. And there's another brief entry, the fifth, to the Interviews with Mitsu Suzuki, Shunryu Suzuki's widow, and a letter from Miriam Bobkoff's impressions of passing through Sokoji in '65 in the Interview section.

9/11/99--Readers' Comments: More suggested reading for Jamie and other correspondence featuring a Dragon, another UK note (Rinzai), a poem, and a proposal. And great Sangha News.

Also, I'm working on a proposal for a new book. It's somewhere around here.--DC

9/10/99--A new online review of Crooked Cucumber on the website of the UK's Western Ch'an Fellowship and soon to be published in the "New Ch'an Forum." I wanted to respond to some of his comments so I started a Comments on Reviews page.

In Readers' Comments there's a suggestion from Texas on what books Jamie might read.

9/9/99--There, I got to write it.

Go to Readers' Comments to suggest a good book for cuke.com helper-webmaster Jamie. Read from my suggestion, an excerpt from "Sleeping Where I Fall" by Peter Coyote. It's a description of the Human Be-in with a mention of Suzuki's cameo (thus qualifying as the second Excerpt for this page, the first being from Taigen Dan Leighton's "Bodhisattva Archetypes"--see 9/6 below). 

Interview with Margot Wilkie, octogenarian former NY actress and early explorer into Buddhism et al.

9/8/99--Go to Errata for what should be the last word (sure) on changes in Crooked Cucumber that I am submitting to Broadway Books. There's even another change to the line about Trungpa 

I just got a call from the producer of the radio interview show listed below--it's been bumped today for a football game so they're going to reschedule for the third time. Well that's show biz!

Today I'm being interviewed from 6:15 to 7:00pm by Geoffrey Fieger on WXYT radio, 1270 am in Detroit, Michigan.  He's quite an interesting, famous lawyer who has represented Kavorkian among others. Now he has a talk show too.

I sent his assistant stuff from the reviews section and hunted around on old files for more bio stuff on me. As a result, I am posting additional info in About the Author.--DC

Two Interviews in the US with Mitsu Suzuki by DC-- This is the fifth in a series of interviews (and one article) with the widow of Shunryu Suzuki.

Thanks to the Sunday Santa Rosa Press Democrat (California-- Sept.5,'99), my local newspaper, for running that great review of Crooked Cucumber, a reprint of the Japan Times Review by Leza Lowitz.

Also, a suggestion in Links of some good Zen links starting in Texas.

9/6/99--See Excerpt from Bodhisattva Archetypes about Mitsu Suzuki (Shunryu Suzuki's widow--the fourth part in a series on her) as an exemplar of Avalokiteshvara from Taigen Dan Leighton's book Bodhisattva Archetypes. It's not really an interview but that's where it best fits. And there's more info on this book and other of Taigen's first rater Buddhist writings.

Also, just in case it might trigger something unexpected, I put information about my upcoming two week trip to Switzerland, German, and maybe Austria under Author Events where I also plan to  continue to put any travel schedule I have.

See Digressions for anticipations about 9/9/99.

[no longer applicable] See Shunryu Suzuki lecture, the Joy of Giving [no longer available] as found in Marian Derby's manuscript, "Beginner's Mind," forerunner of "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" and compare it, if you wish, to how the same lecture was treated in the book. [This link will only be active for a week or so.]

9/4/99--I've edited the bit called further comments by me on Brian Victoria. And just one more little comment concerning Dan Kaplan's note of 9/3 from Readers' Comments about anti-Semitism and Zen--see Digressions.--DC

9/3/99--HOUSTON CHRONICLE review of "Crooked Cucumber" In the ZEST section of the Sunday paper, 3/21/99 by Rick Mitchell.

A bunch of Readers' Comments and a long digression in response to a reader's comment about Brian Victoria, Shunryu and Hoitsu Suzuki, the war, and getting deported.

9/2/99--Click here to go to Digressions and read about William James and Tassajara and Clay and me. Also on the main page of Digressions a bit of advice from a loyal reader which we will follow--not underlining the names of books.

In Readers' Comments there's a question and answer about what Zen temple to stay at near Tokyo and in Sangha News there are Messages from Bloomington, Indiana, from Shohaku Okumura-sensei and Taigen Dan Leighton.

9/1/99--Mitsu Suzuki interviewed by DC in Japan, April 1994. This is the third in a series of interviews with the widow of Shunryu Suzuki. Also there's a tiny note on the discussion on one sentence in CC pertaining to Trungpa Rinpoche's indulgences under Errata.

August

8/30/99--Interview with Niels Holm, the eccentric Danish carpenter, sailor, and philosopher.

8/28/99--Interview with Mitsu Suzuki On her life with Suzuki-roshi by Kazuaki Tanahashi. This is the second in a series of interviews with the widow of Shunryu Suzuki.

Two messages I just got, both from Canada in Readers' Comments. My return message on both were returned as undeliverable. I have messages for both. Also, look at a special new page in Errata for more in the dialogue on one line in Crooked Cucumber about Trungpa Rinpoche.

8/27/99--A review of Crooked Cucumber by Tom Ireland in the latest issue of Fish Drum, originally run in the Santa Fe New Mexican last spring.

8/26/99--Interview with Mitsu Suzuki on her life by Kazuaki Tanahashi.--This is the first in a series of interviews with the widow of Shunryu Suzuki. There will be some repetition and there needs to be some editing and correcting done on these interviews, but that will have to wait. 

New stuff today in Readers' Comments and more on how to best describe Trungpa Rinpoche's naughty habits in Errata because that's where this discussion has been going on.

8/24/99--There's a new format for lectures. Only one lecture at a time from Marian Derby's original manuscript called Beginner's Mind will be posted. See Suzuki Lectures for more info. The lecture presently on the site is called [for a week] Constancy and can be compared to the same more polished version that was published in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. [Link active for a week only].

And there's word on three friends in Sangha News.--DC

8/23/99--I'm back from the trip to Tassajara. Will try to write something about it tomorrow. Today there is a message in  Readers' Comments and another with some details for Errata. And the Lectures page is going to be down temporarily to go back up later in a different format. Later today I'll put up some new info about SFZC sangha members in Sangha news.--DC

8/13/99--I'm off to Tassajara, Zen Mountain Center, for ten days. Back on the 22nd. While I'm gone Jamie Avera in Houston is going to be putting on some Suzuki-roshi lectures, a continuation of the transcripts that Marian Derby made from tapes recorded at Los Altos, CA in 1965-67 that eventually led to Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. I won't be answering my email or doing anything on this site till I get back. See you then and, as Dave Garoway (sp?) used to say, "Peace."

CUCUMBER PROJECT PROPOSAL--A preliminary Proposal to fund the Crooked Cucumber Oral History Project, in other words, the work I am doing. (8/13/99) I just sent it out to some advisors and we'll be working on it and coming up with a budget.--DC

And, a message in Readers' Comments.

8/11/99--The full text of the review of Crooked Cucumber in the Shambala Sun (Sept.'99) by Tensho David Schneider. 

8/10/99--I've been going over the great new web pages doing little things. Worth mentioning are  new change to Crooked Cucumber in Errata. Zen Hospice fundraising dinners on one evening in November. I'll be at one of them. More on this later. See Author Events--DC.  Sangha News --updates on Lew and Mark, and a comment on Rick Field's Memorial Service.

8/9/99--New site design by The Empty Wig

8/8/99--See modified info below on September issue of Shambala Sun with excerpts from a soon to be released book of Suzuki-roshi lectures and more on Crooked Cucumber.

8/7/99--Memories of Suzuki-roshi by Rick Fields (from October '75 New Age Journal). This is the first thing to go on a new section of cuke.com called Suzuki Stories. See Rick Fields, for obituaries as well as the September Shambala Sun, p.15. 

8/6/99--A message from Jerry Halpern, March 21, 1999 in which he makes some interesting comments about Crooked Cucumber and the missing Los Altos tapes.

8/5/99--Interview with Seiyo Tsuji, a Japanese friend of Shunryu Suzuki in America.

Two new Comments on Crooked Cucumber from Shambala Sun September '99 which were just added to the Reviews section of this site. Suzuki-roshi's face appears on the cover along with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche to his right and Maitreya Buddha to his left and the heading Great Spiritual Teachers, what they do, why we need them.

Crooked Cucumber is listed by Pema Chodron (Buddhist teacher and author) as one of the ten most important spiritual books of the twentieth century (p.19).[Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind made six of eight lists.]

"[In this] marvelous biography of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi...it does indeed feel that he breathes, sits, speaks, suffers, and acts in these pages."-from Tensho David Schneider's terrific new review (full review will follow in time).

Also in this issue of Shambala is an excerpt from the forthcoming book of edited lectures by Shunryu Suzuki, the first such book since ZMBM, called Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness: Lectures on the Sandokai. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1999.

8/3/99--Interview with David Haselwood, an early publisher of beat writers who studied with Suzuki in 63 and 64. Now he's a priest at Sonoma Mt. Zen Center.

Also: More Readers' Comments (featuring an important (cuke.com-wise) note from Bill Redican on the new Shambala Sun, and a message in Sangha News .

July

7/31/99--A reminder: the memorial for Rick Fields (who died on June 6) will be at Spirit Rock in Marin County CA on Sunday August 1 at 2:00 PM. Parking is limited and people are asked to carpool.

[I'll be pretty busy for the next few days. My mother's visiting. But who knows, I may be able to get back to the computer and put stuff on anyway. On Monday August 2nd, I'm being interviewed by Sharon Bard for her program "On the Edge and Centered" which will air on KRCB FM 91 in Santa Rosa on August 12th at 6:30 PM. Check out their website at [Doesn't work anymore. Probably changed the URL..--DC]

7/30/99--Interview with Betty Warren, Readers' Comments, heavy-handed Digressions on marijuana in response to a question in Reader's Comments. A new Sangha News section.

7/29/99--Go to Reviews to see a new blurb by Peter Matthiessen and then click on Quotes from Reviews to see just that - which I have prepared for Broadway Books to consider for blurbs for the paperback (coming out in February). Go to Digressions to see what I have to say about all this. Again, coming soon are more interviews and whole reviews.

7/28/99--More Readers' Comments and new errata (see note and link below), the last I hope. I've sent it in. I'll have some new interviews very soon. They're almost ready.--DC

7/27/99--More Readers' Comments from the last few days and one last upgrade of the changes to Crooked Cucumber I'm sending to Broadway Books on Monday. Just click here for Errata.

7/26/99--I'm going to be giving the public talk at Genjo-ji, Sonoma Mt. Zen Center, near Sonoma CA, this Saturday 7/31 at 11:00 am. There's a zazen beforehand at 10:30. It's at 6367 Sonoma Mt. Road. See their web site http://www.sirius.com/~smzc/genjoji.html for more info on them and for directions to get there.--DC

7/25/99--In Digressions, I go on about my present task of organizing reviews and comments on Crooked Cucumber, and give thumbs up to Afterzen: Experiences of a Zen Student Out on his Ear, by Janwillem Van de Wetering, the third book in his Zen trilogy, which came out recently in hardback, published by St. Martin's Press.

7/23/99--So here are the changes to Crooked Cucumber I'm sending to Broadway Books on Monday. Just click here for Errata. Especially interesting is the note on new info on the phrase "crooked cucumber" toward the end (I put it on the half-filled page called "Notes on the Text and Pronunciation." 

JEAN E. ROSS--Surpassing the Clouds - An article on one of Suzuki-roshi's earliest and strongest students, a real Buddhist trailblazer. In the interview section.

More Readers' Comments from the last few days and two new Links: Jack Elias--old Suzuki-roshi and Trungpa Rinpoche student, now a practicing hypnotherapist, and Ken Knabb who writes about engaged Buddhism.

7/21/99--See Digressions for a tip of the hat to two guys who pointed out linking booboos and a paranoid comment on errata and the sorry state of the public's sense of  responsibility.

7/20/99 (10:30pm)--Updates on the conditions of Lew and Mark.

7/20/99--Three new interviews--with Daya Goldschlag, Eva Goldschied, and Sue Roberts. I'll try to get a report on here soon about the disciples group talk at Green Gulch.

7/18/99--I feel almost uncomfortable about posting anything while two dear friends (mentioned above) are in intensive care. Their conditions and the suffering of their families expose the triviality of what I'm doing and thinking to myself.   But I don't know what else to do but sit here and work and call on all high beings and powers and friends and you and me to go to their aide without bothering them.

Today I add a lot of Readers' Comments from the last two weeks.

7/17/99--It's late. See Digressions.

I wanted to post something else on the site before I went to bed, so here it is. From Jack Van Allen, an old student of Suzuki's from the mid sixties. (Jack makes wonderful small Buddhist statues that I'll tell more about later)--DC:

During a question and answer someone said to Roshi, "Here I sit near the end of this session energized and thinking, there is a lot of power in this practice."  Suzuki replied, "Don't use it." [in Suzuki Stories]

7/17/99--And now there has been a terrible automobile accident. Let us offer our zazen, prayers, healing thoughts to Mark in intensive care and our love and support through our hearts and minds to his parents at this very difficult time for them.--DC

7/16/99-- Lew, Suzuki-roshi disciple is in the hospital with viral encephalitis that came on suddenly two days ago. All I know besides that is that he's unconscious and that the doctors and his family are very worried. His wife requested that at the disciples' meeting tomorrow we sit zazen for Lew. (He was instrumental in establishing the first such get-together a year and a half ago--we're now meeting twice a year). I ask you also to do what you feel moved to do for Lew's benefit: sit, pray, have a healing ceremony, think of him. Thank You--DC

7/11/99--Interview with Della Goertz. Review of Crooked Cucumber in Whole Earth Review (Summer 1999)

7/9/99--I'm off to Spokane for a week of camping. More about this in David's Digressions.

7/9/99--Interview with Jakusho Kwong-roshi, abbot of Sonoma Mountain Zen Center in Sonoma County CA, one of Suzuki-roshi's earliest students.

7/8/99--Review of Crooked Cucumber for The Japan Times for The Japan Times by Leza Lowitz--June 22, 1999. [This gets five stars from me as a review, but then again, I'm prejudiced. I have a bunch of reviews to put on--just need the time and to get my scanner working again. Soon.--DC]

7/8/99--PETER SCHNEIDER INTERVIEWS SUZUKI-ROSHI - ABOUT HIS LIFE IN JAPAN(9/69).

7/7/99--I called up my friend John Sumser tonight and he was teaching me stuff about linking and searching and we (actually, he) found under the "Suzuki Roshi" search, the Portable 3-D Buddhist shrine (with 3-D glasses). Read about it in Digressions. (More interviews soon).--DC

7/6/99--It seems to me we need a page herein where I can post my own comments, letters, rantings, whatever. So welcome to the world of Digressions. This will be different from Author's Notes (unstarted) which will be notes for the book, page by page. This is where I'll put my longer notes about whatever so as to keep everything else more tidy.

7/5/1999--Greetings. Last night I found my computer on HotBot and it had performed a search for Crooked Cucumber. I had a friend over but he's not likely to have done that. I was slightly mystified but chose to direct my attention to the sites that came up. There were twenty sites listed. I thought they were interesting so here they are.. I'm going to put the appropriate ones under LINKS  with a few comments and elaborations..--DC

7/4/99--Message from Lawrence Hettinger in Reader Comments.

7/2/99--Report on Thursday 7/1 reading I did with Wes Nisker at Books Inc on Market Street near Noe in San Francisco. We knocked 'em beyond dead. Moved to digressions almost at the bottom.

7/2/99--A number of   Reader Comments from recently (including Charlie Musselwhite, Shohaku Okumura-sensei, and others) and further back.

7/1/99--Interview with Darlene Cohen, Zen priest and therapist in pain management.

JUNE

6/24/99--New Reader Letters, Transcript of a 1972 interview with Hoitsu Suzuki - the third  interview on this site with Hoitsu Suzuki, Shunryu Suzuki's eldest son who succeeded him at his temple, Rinso-in, in Yaizu, Japan. This is the oldest one though.

6/22/99--Activist Barton Stone remembers Suzuki Roshi.

6/21/99--An interview with poet and Dharma Lion Allen Ginsberg, new Reader's Comments.

6/16/99--An Interview with Masao Yamamura, a young neighbor of Shunryu Suzuki's in Japan.

6/15/99--An interview with Art Atkinson, some far out Readers' Comments, a new link. All messages and articles concerning Rick Fields (who died on June 6) have been moved to a new page.

Also, I'm going away for a couple of weeks. Leaving Wednesday morning. I'll be receiving my email (forwarded automatically to Yahoo) and with the help of Jamie Avera, a Texas-based webmaster and Richard Speel who's preparing interviews, I think we may be able to keep this site going while I'm gone. We'll see.--DC

6/12/99--CONTINUING WITH HOITSU,-- a follow-up interview with Hoitsu Suzuki, Shunryu Suzuki's eldest son who succeeded him at his temple, Rinso-in, in Yaizu, Japan. Now attached to the end of the first interview, done the day before.

6/11/99--Today, go to Readers' Comments to see the New York Times Obituary on Rick Fields. Also, there's a Tassajara Ghost Story, and a message from Bernd Bender who's translating Crooked Cucumber into German. My responses are included.--DC

6/10/99--Today there's a new interview posted with Hoitsu Suzuki, Shunryu Suzuki's son.

Also, under Readers' comments. there's a reprint of Don Latin's SF Chronicle 6/9/99 obituary on Rick and a note on where to send money in his name. Thanks to Tano Maida of Legacy Media for keeping me informed on this.

6\9\99--Adding an archives update that Bill Redican, SFZC Archivist, just wrote. See the Archives Project Update 6/7/99 page.

Also more Readers' Comments.

6\8\99--A note from Bill Redican in Readers' Comments--DC]

6\7\99--Rick Fields dies in San Francisco. Farewell Rick.

6\7\99--Subject: Rick Fields David, Today was the last day of Rick's life. He died at noon, at home, in bed, in the arms of his wife. He got to write the last page before the doctors and hospitals and machines could have a go; he never did like to be edited... They're following Tibetan protocol for the next three days he'll be undisturbed there at home and then cremation; no plans yet for a memorial, but soon. Say a prayer. Best, Tano--Gaetano Kazuo Maida, Berkeley, of Legacy Media--legacy@well.com.

[Goodbye to Rick Fields--dear friend, wonderful Buddhist writer, and a terrific guy, loved by all, who outlasted for years his doctors' predications of how long he had to live. Truly an inspiring person. Love and light to you Rick. Gyate gyate paragate, parasamgate bodhi svaha!--DC]

6\4\99--Just a couple of notes on the Readers' Comments page.

Which way should the slash go in the date?--DC

6\3--Wanted to get another interview on today but didn't have time. An old student of Stephen Gaskin's from The Farm named Richard Speel (whom I met at a reading I gave in Sonoma County CA) came by today and we fired up the scanner for the first time--actually got a page on Suzuki from a book of  Gaskin's scanned, plus we did a successful OCR scan--optical character recognition--of something from another book that Gaskin wrote on Suzuki. We're going to try to get all of Gaskin's comments on Suzuki down in one place (plus the photos he used). So that'll be on here in the future but it'll take us a little time.

    Someone wrote and offered to help. "Yes yes, I need help," I answered. Indeed I do. There's so much to do and it's all so time consuming and I've decided for certain health and sanity reasons not to work around the clock. So if there's anyone out there who wants to help, I can use it. I can offer lunch in return--and shares in (Milo Minderbinder quality) Stock. I think of that last John Grissham movie where the lawyer was overwhelmed and broke and Sandra Bullock showed up with a law degree from Harvard and a rich father and lots of energy and nothing else to do. I could use that too.

    And there are a couple of new notes on the Readers' Comments and errrata page.--DC

6/1--Today there's a new Links page. The first link is New Dimensions Radio. Advice on linking and new link suggestions are welcome. Also this What's New site is new today.

May

5/28/99, Now there's an errata page for Crooked Cucumber. Go there to see mistakes in Crooked Cucumber and please add any you know of by emailing me at dchad3(at)sonic(dot)net [add the number "2" after the dchad to get to DC directly. This avoids spam]. The first entry on the errata page is an apology to Richard Jaffe, scholar of Soto Zen and buddy, for leaving him out of the acknowledgements.

5/27--I'M BACK AT WORK ON THE WEB SITE. Having done 50+ EVENTS (signings, talks) and veged out for a while,  There's now a new interview (with Mel Weitsman, abbot of the Berkeley Zendo) and I'll be adding more interviews as fast as I can. I want to go through the book and write notes too. And more. I'm going to add a Readers' Comments page for your comments and questions and I'll post there email and letters I've received.

Today Zen Mind Beginner's Mind on was on the San Francisco Chronicle's list of top 100 Western US non-fiction books of the twentieth century--as number 31.

This site was created in December of 1998 as a supplement to the book, Crooked Cucumber: the Life and Zen Teaching of Shunryu Suzuki. There was a lot of the info as presented still in the Crooked Cucumber section, and some photos. Now and then I'd make a change or add something such as in the schedule of events or errata pages. In May of 1999 I started adding to it on a more regular basis and started this What's New page which grew to a What's New section. - DC