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What Was New in 2005
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December 2005

12-30-05 - Cuke.com Silliest Award of 2005 - Big fines for exposed flesh and naughty words. Big to-do about Janet Jackson's breast with all the TV pundits saying "disgusting" when all it was was part of a body part only partly visible for a second. The music, however, was cause for alarm. CBS got a $550,000 fine for that! They fined Clear Channel $495,000 for Howard Stern saying something naughty. Those fines are very silly, especially when you have many other people advocating violence like Rush Limbaugh suggesting we should level Iraq because a Westerner got beheaded. That's like suggesting that we level New York because a foreigner gets killed there by a mugger (after it had been invaded and bombed to heck by the foreigner's country). And then there's Pat Robertson suggesting we assassinate Chavez in Venezuela, a democratically elected leader. No fines for that sort of thing. No fines for politicians or pundits who lie about important things resulting in mass death. Just fines for silly things. - DC

12-30-05 - David Schneider seeking photos of Shunryu Suzuki with Chogyam Trungpa for a book of talks by Trungpa Rinpoche on the theme Zen and Tantra. Contact me, DC, at <dchad2(at)sonic(dot)net> if you've got a one or more or a lead.

Also, Check out Recalling Chogyam Trungpa, with a chapter by Schneider (who is now working on a book about Philip Whalen). Incidentally, the parallel images of Trungpa and Warner to the left is purely coincidental and is not intended to convey anything deeply significant - though this may be a sign.

12-29-05 - Interview with Jack Van Allen.

12-28-05 - go to Current Events to read a link between our government's recent spying on us and the fall of Roman democracy.

12-28-05 - Check out Doubtboy, especially this video - by Brad Warner, a Zen guy now in LA who started in Ohio in Kobun Chino's lineage and went to Japan where he studied with Gudo Wafu Nishijima. There are links on this site to info on a Santa Monica sitting group, his books (Hardcore Zen), and comments on this and that. Thanks to Rachael Flannery for sending this to me.

An October letter from Eric Arnow called Off to Burma.

An embarrassing find. Check out a sight named Audio Dharma and, among the talks by "Zen teachers" you'll find one by me, DC. I'm not going to listen to it. Thanks to Andrew from OZ for the heads up. And thanks to Gil Fronsdal for creating this site which, regardless of this glitch, has much of value. The home page for this site is the Insight Meditation Center.

12-27-05 - Catching up with items on my put-on-site folder to wrap up this year.

In November Grace Dammann Received an Award from His Holiness the Dalai Lama for her compassionate work with AIDS patients. Grace is a doctor who lives at Green Gulch Farm.

Peter and Jane Schneider are now teaching at the Beginner's Mind Temple in Northridge, Los Angeles. Peter was ordained by Suzuki Roshi in 1970 and received dharma transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman Roshi in 2002. Jane was ordained by Zentatsu Richard Baker Roshi in 1973.

A Zen Where's Waldo with apologies to whoever created it for not giving them credit. Hit that thumbnail and find Waldo! Thanks to David Weinstein.


12-26-05
- read David Silva's poem, Altar, on the Sangha-e! newsletter. See prior interview with David Silva.

12-25-05 - Merry Christmas and Yo Saturnalia!

12-24-05 - Edward Espe Brown's web site, Peaceful Sea Sangha. See Edward's book page on this site. Thanks to Madeleine for the update.

12-23-05 - Loring Palmer sends greetings from Rishikesh.

12-22-05 - Our friend Vanja Hans Palmers in Switzerland sends greetings and news of the new web site in memory of Kobun Chino Roshi.

Venerable friends, it is with joy that i point out to you the web-site www.kobun-sama.org.

and with a request for
ANECDOTES – PICTURES – CALLIGRAPHIES – LECTURES – ACTIVITIES – ETC.
With best wishes and a  deep bow, Vanja

12-21-05 - Another letter from Eric Arnow in Burma - an earlier one.

12-20-05 - Reuven Ben Yuhmin sends Holliday greetings and links to his new pod casts.

12-19-05 - These are the times that try us. A message that cuke.com janitor, DC, thinks is critical to stop the abuse of power in the executive branch. And today's suggested current events link.

12-16-05 - letter from Eric Arnow - More time in Burma--The road to Mandalay and Beyond. There are a few Arnow letters I haven't put on because of being busy with a book and other stuff. I'll try to get them up soon. Meanwhile, check out this nifty epistle from Burma. - DC

12-14-05 - 11-13-05 - Shunryū Suzuki lecture which, like all the lectures for a while, was used for one of the chapters of Not Always So. This version is a light edit. From there, you can also go to the verbatim version.

12-12-05 Last day to save STANLEY "TOOKIE" WILLIAMS from execution.

read an email from the SFZC outreach office for a few things you can do.

12-11-05 - New calendar prints (one page for the whole year) and Chinese Only Heart Sutra image on items in the Cuke Basket at Cafe Press. Go to that link and even if you don't buy anything from the Cuke Basket, anything you buy on Cafe Press elsewhere gives cuke.com a small cut.

12-11-05 - An obituary on our dear friend and Tassajara doctor, Bill Wenner, written by Charles Page at the request of the family. Thank you Charles. - DC

Now there are tee shirts and other items with the message, "Buddhism, the religion that promises nothing... and Delivers" pocket-sized. Also, new pocket-sized Zen Failure black tee shirt. Go to the Cuke Basket at Cafe Press.

12-09-05 - Gary Snyder on Shunryu Suzuki and the social scene around the ZC forty years ago - as told to DC.

12-07-05 - In keeping with the theme for this month which is finish the second draft of the NaNoWriMo novel (see below) and gather financial support to continue this site and eating, cuke.com announces the first of the 2005 Holliday Season (or for Bill O'Reilly and friends, Christmas Season) cuke.com Calendars. Go to the Cuke Basket at Cafe Press and get a calendar print with this New Year's card sent by Shunryu Suzuki.

12-04-05 - The Cuke Basket at Cafe Press now has black tee shirts and other items sporting our few yet brilliant images and statements. Excellent holiday gifts.

12-01-05 - Finished the first draft of theNaNoWriMo novel (see below)  last night at 11:30. Wrote over 70,000 words in November, most of it in the second half. Proudly share the winner's place with 9764 others who bravely took on the task of completing more than 50k words in November following the unofficial motto: quantity over quality. Something other than this soon (though am spending most of my time on 2nd draft). - DC

November

11-28-05 - It is with great pride that cuke.com announces that DC wins the NaNoWriMo novel writing contest along with Alan Senauke (of the Berkeley Zen Center and Buddhist Peace Fellowship) and 3303 other contestants so far with only two days and thirteen and a half hours to go. Neither Alan nor I have really finished our books - we just passed the 50,000 word mark of words written this month which is the only criteria for being a winner. I'm going to keep charging ahead to see if I can get the first draft of this thing done before midnight of the 30th. To read the first chapter, either do so here or on the NaNoWriMo site where you can find me by hitting the Team 2005 link and searching among the almost 60,000 entered for Chadwick. I'm under Dchadwick and am the only Chadwick, a lonely position to be in. Then, to read the first chapter in the state it's in now, you have to click on my name, hit the word "turn" with an arrow at the bottom right hand corner of the page on the right, hit "click to load" on the cute title page they've set up, and read away. As I have said before, this is the only literary organization that I could feel comfortable being a member of due to their standards - "Quantity over Quality." I further congratulate NaNoWriMo for exceeding their goal this year of $110,000 to go toward libraries for Laos.

11-25-05 - With sadness and gratitude for all he did, I report that Dr. William Wenner has just passed away in Hawaii - in Sangha News. - DC

11-22-05 - ZEN and the Art of Everything:
Festival of the Arts & Crafts at San Francisco Zen Center/City Center - This Saturday, November 26, 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. See Sangha news on this day for more.

11-21-05 - Cindy Sheehan reads from her new book in Berkeley on Dec. 3rd.

11-21-05 - Our thoughts and prayers go out to our dear friends Bill and Cynee Wenner in Hawaii. Go to Sangha News.

11-20-05 - Go to USALONE to help stop Diebold no-paper-trail voting machines from being certified for California.

11-19-05 - Read an article from the 11-17 NY Times on Sim van der Ryn, innovative green architect and old friend of SFZC, Baker Roshi, and me (DC). It's called "It Happened Here First."  

11-18-05 - Save Stanley "Tookie" Williams from execution.

11-17-05 - an interesting way to help our fellow mortals in Pakistan.

Happy Birthday Katrinka!

11-16-05 - Go to Current Events to learn about the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and intelligent design - if you don't already know. From there you can go to the Church's own fascinating and informative site.

11-15-05 Go to Current Events to read about the campaign to save Kevin Cooper, a clearly redeemed if not innocent man from execution.

11-13-05 - Shunryū Suzuki lecture

11-07-05 - Our old friend Arnie Kotler who started up Parallax Press to publish books by Thich Nhat Hanh now has a new publishing company named Koa Books and their first book out is Not One More Mother's Child, by Cindy Sheehan. Read the press release and check out the Bay Area's first event at UC Berkeley in the Current Events section.

From the SFZC: Calling All Artisans!: Arts and Crafts Sale at City Center - There will be an Arts and Crafts Sale at City Center on Saturday, November 26. Please consider selling your wares at this daylong event at 300 Page Street. So far, we have poets, ceramic and textiles artists, Alexander Technique practioners, and photographers. Hours are from 11:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Please contact Mimi Manning for details: mimimanning(at)earthlink(dot)net or 415.431.2665.

11-04-05 - Table of Contents of this site first step - an alphabetical listing of folders of the files that comprise this site with links to the most helpful pages. A stab at making it easier to find what's here on cuke.com.

11-2-05 - NaNoWriMo (see a few days down) project first chapter - George What? Treasure Hunt (updated 11-17). I promise this won't stop me from posting Buddhist stuff - but not today. Gotta run. - DC

October

10-31-05 - SFZC sangha-e! newsletter looking for tech help to do the newsletter and web site. Read their notice on this.

10-29-05 - Read the Zen Alumbrella proposal Overview and see the vision thing of cuke.com and our feeble attempt to raise money.

In this proposal is included a letter to the SFZC Elders' Committee sent by DC in early July of 2005 concerning the Aluminati.

10-28-05 - A heavy and highly important letter from Colin Powell's former chief of staff in today's Current Events.

10-22-05 - Official Zen madman Reuven Ben Yuhmin expatrioting in Taiwan sends a cryptic calligraphy and explanitory note.

And speaking of madmen - just got a message from Zen priest and Buddhist Peace Fellowshipper Alan Senauke who I don't ordinarily think of as a madman, but his email said that he too has signed up for NaNoWriMo and that's fairly mad as in Mad Magazine. See icon and comment from yesterday immediately below.

10-22-05 - What is NaNoWriMo and what has DC gone and done with them? As you can see by the participant icon to your left, something strange is afoot. Go to today's DC Misc to learn the astounding details and see what's in store for you in November.

10-21-05 - I've been eagerly following the news these days. Go to this link to see a brief comment on Who Didn't Get it Wrong - it's gone. But I said lots of us got it right. Biggest demo I ever saw in SF not reported. Weapons inspectors etc. Millions know. It was obvious. DC posted on the excellent Huffington Post today - on Arianna's blog.

And while you're at it, check out this other comment put on DC Misc which is from another post to a blog at Huffington Post. This one's in response to an item named Toward a Modern God.

10-16-05 - Go to Zen Aluminati Updates for info on the immanent hospitalization and vertebrae fusing of a character in the Zen realm, sort of a fellow-traveler and tech hipster (cuke.com's senior tech support), David Cohen, brother of Darlene.

Sorry for the dearth of postings. I've been doing plumbing and painting long hours to pay some bills - and still working on the fundraising which let's hope produces results of a cuke.com kind. Maybe I'll share what I've been writing in that realm. I'd rather be putting stuff up here and interviewing people than doing actual work but that's what I get for putting money last and running up credit card bills. But the actual work is a gas. - DC

10-11-05 - Hoitsu Suzuki, Shunryu Suzuki's eldest son and heir to his temple in Japan, named tanto of Eiheiji.

10-08-05 - A while back a four page version of the Heart Sutra was put on cuke.com. Here's the two page version of the Heart Sutra that was used at Sokoji in the sixties - and while we were at it, we made it into the newest image for cuke.com tee shirts and other items available at the Cuke Basket under the Buddhism and Nothings section. Check it out and support cuke.com with a purchase.

10-07-05 - a lecture by Shunryu Suzuki.

10-06-05 - An article on care giving and care receiving called The Ties that Bind by David Brooks from the NY Times. - In Zen Aluminati updates.

September

9-18-05 - The new Sangha-e! newsletter of the SFZC is out and this issue has an article by DC called Who Are the Zen Aluminati? In case that link doesn't work at some point in the future, the article can also be found herein under Zen Aluminati Updates. Below is the notice from cuke.com's home page for the SFZC's web site and the ZC's august e-periodical.

sangha-e! - Check out the San Francisco Zen Center's web site <http://sfzc.org/> and if you wish to get sangha-e!, the SFZC's email newsletter, just click the link to it on the left of their web site's home page.

9-17-05 - an interesting letter from Eric Arnow in Thailand about Zen and Vipassana.

916-05 - For SF Bay Area folks, a notice in the Back Porch Zendo section about Elizabeth Sawyer's new office for her interfaith ministry work.

9-06-05 - Off to Texas.

9-05-05 - Another compelling statement adorns a wide array of must-buys in the Cuke Basket to both spread the wordless and spin the economic wheel. Thanks again to Brian Howlett for the art and Jackie Celko for donating the concept.

 

9-02-05 - Exciting new products in the Cuke Basket - the Zen Failure logo on T-shirts and other indispensable items. Declare your standing in the Buddhist world and support cuke.com at the same time. Thanks mucho to Brian Howlett for the artwork.

9-01-05 - a lecture by Shunryū Suzuki

August

8-31-05 - 9-01-05 - Information on the conditions in Mississippi and New Orleans, various charities, and ways to donate to the relief effort.

8-30-05 - The Monk with Dysentery, a story for the Zen Aluminati

DC excuse - Computer finally really really wouldn't start again. Got a 2nd hand one on the way thanks to the Computer Recycling Center. Got a laptop going now thanks to Joy and David Cohen. But I'll continue to be busy these days as school is starting and gotta go to Texas for my Aunt Elli's 80th and then there's fundraising world crashing in on my noggin and whatnot.

8-21-05 - Thanks sutra buffs who found what I was looking for on the 19th below. I'll get that in here in a jiff. - DC [see note on this entry]

8-20-05 - As a result of the Comments on a brief bio of Shunryu Suzuki, I realized that one of the many short-comings of this site is that there is no brief bio. So today I'm the putting the revised one from the above link in a new section called Shunryu Info which contains the brief bio and a chronology of Suzuki's life.

8-19-05 - Sutra buffs take note! I am looking for a story, in an old sutra I've been told, where Buddha goes somewhere, maybe a monastery, and finds an old sick monk alone and unable to care for himself. As I heard it, Buddha finds other monks there and asks them why is the old monk not taken care of and them make some excuse then Buddha tells them that they should care for the old monk, that that is their practice. Does anyone have any idea where a story like this might be found? Thanks, DC

8-18-05 - THE SEVEN DISHWASHING PICTURES

8-17-05 - A letter from Eric Arnow in Thailand

8-16-05 - Check out Pseudo Dionysius the Areopagite, especially the Mystical Theology. Like it says here, he's like Christianity's Prajna Paramita. I totally love his new set of negations - it's not this, not that. The translation published by the Paulist Press is much more up to date, but this older one is on the Internet. Thanks to Jim Wilson of the delightful Many Rivers Books and Tea in Sebastopol for introducing me to Pseudo Dionysius. - DC

8-15-05 - Redid the page on Comments on a brief bio of Shunryu Suzuki and ran into Startling historical data concerning Shunryu Suzuki, the Green Dragon Society, and the Nazis mined from the Internet and all sorts of stuff about Zen as an evil cult. Read it and tremble!

8-14-05  - Sabbatical Update #6 - Tassajara Believe it or not! and other stuff.

8-13-05 - Sabbatical Update #5 - Fire near Tassajara last month.

Also, happy birthday mother!

8-12-05 - sangha-e! - Check out the San Francisco Zen Center's web site <http://sfzc.org/> and if you wish to get sangha-e!, the SFZC's email newsletter, just click the link to it on the left of their web site's home page. Take a peek at this month's issue

8-09-05 - 60 years on, Nagasaki asks US to give up nuclear weapons.

8-08-05 - Comments on a brief bio of Shunryu Suzuki, Grahame Petchey on the original incorporation of the SF Zen Center, and a very important interview with Hakusan Kojun Noiri that I didn't realize wasn't on this site. - DC

8-07-05 - An announcement from Crestone Zen Mt. Center.

8-06-05 - Imagining a World without Nuclear Weapons from Salon.com and The Nagasaki Story the Censors Killed. Originally LA Times-Washington Post. And on this 60th anniversary of Hiroshima, go to Helen Caldicott's site and bookmark it and be reminded of her contention that accidental war between the US and Russia is still the greatest threat to mankind and the only manmade one that truly threatens the species (a cuke.com Current Events link).

8-05-05 - Zen Aluminati update by DC on Ananda and ruminations about the need to enclose the work I do within an Alumni organization outside of the SFZC.

8-04-05 - Sabbatical Update #4 - Tassajara continued.

8-03-05 - Sabbatical Update #3 - Tassajara.

8-02-05 - Thanks to John Steiner for forwarding this article from the NY Times on the recent wedding of Elizabeth Baker, Zentatsu Richard's and Virginia's daughter.

8-01-05 - Sabbatical Update #2 - Hearst Castle - added a bit on the 3rd.

July -

7-31-05 - Sabbatical Update #1 - song archiving.

7-25-05 - Finally, something new, namely, a Shunryu Suzuki lecture

7-24-05 - Zen Aluminati update on Iva Jones. - She's fine now.

7-23-05 - Two letters from Eric Arnow in Thailand, one old, one new.

June

6-20-05 - Another t-shirt - see Current Events.

6-12-05 - A new item in Current Events which says to go to the Cuke Basket at Cafe Press to find an exiting new development here at cuke.com. We start off this new venture with a political question on t-shirts and soon, other items, which sport an image with the piercing question: What's the Downing Street Memo?

6-7-05 - Go to Forrest Books when in San Francisco and while there buy lots of books. I must include it in my list of items for the product placement book I intend to write. Check out their excellent profile on SF City Search. Now back to my sabbatical.

6-04-05 -  New Shunryu Suzuki lecture.

May

5-23-05 Hate to break my vow, but here's a bit of info on how to donate to this site, the Cucumber Project, the Zen Aluminati, the work DC does and all which will mean - more interviews with folks form the Suzuki days, more ailing and aging Zennies visited and hopefully assisted, and much more - a quick note written at the suggestion of a loyal reader.

5-22-05 - the new Dharma Sangha web site for Zentatsu Richard Baker Roshi's group in America which is centered at Crestone Mt. Zen Center.

5-13-05 - DC Misc on why there won't be many posts on this site for a while and what to expect upon the return.

The answer to Contest Number 3, the new contest.

A NY Times article on sorting recycling in Japan.

The future of PBS

5-09-05 - Zen Aluminati update featuring Ananda, Della, and Chuck.

By all means check out Bill Benz's web site and tell me if you know what it's about.

5-8-05 even later in the morning, approaching noon - A report on a work practice day here at Tarantland.

5-8-05 later in the morning - In preparing the page below on the a twelve part series on Shunryu Suzuki published soon after his death, I ran into Peter D. Junger's fascinating Samsara site. There's a lot more than Buddhism on it but here's the link to his site's section on Buddha Dharma and here's the page on Rev. Koshin Ogui. This site is well worth looking into. Check out the Buddha Dharma links (which are going, along with most of this note, on this site's woefully inadequate link page). There are many I didn't know of. And you may find other sections of his website of interest. Four instance, I'm putting his Cost of the War in Iraq counter and link on the Current Events page of this site. - DC

5-8-05 - Read a twelve part series on Shunryu Suzuki published soon after his death.

5-7-05 - John Tarrant's daughter, Seraphina Goldfarb-Tarrant, won 1st prize in KQED's Digital Storytelling Contest. See her 3 minute film. Now I know how to spell her name. I'd never seen it in print. The movie's great though the word "never" at the end in my mind translates into "not as often as I'd like."

5-6-05 - An invitation to friends of Lou Hartman.

5-5-5 - Five contributions on DC Misc

5-04-05 - Seven photographs of Shunryu Suzuki and more by Isago Isao Tanaka.

Some random tidbits on Sarah Weintraub and Peace Communities, When the President Talks to God on Leno, scamming the Nigerian Scammers, Work Practice day here, email rots your brain - all in today's DC Misc

5-01-05 - Interview with Mark Lewis and his mother Yvonne done way back in '94. The quote at the top serves as the seventh hint in the 3rd Contest.

Come to the PZI Buddha's Birthday Bash (it's right here where I live). - DC

April

4-30-05 - The sixth hint.

4-29-05 - The fifth hints in the contest.

Another letter from Thailand.

4-28-05 - Unlike the first two contests which no one guessed correctly, three people have already guessed the answer to the 3rd contest though one of them stated it sort of weirdly. Of course I didn't tell them but just sent them Document 3702b, the Standard 3rd Contest Entry Acknowledgement.

Let me throw out more clues, the fourth hints [which could be the title of a mystery novel. Maybe this is it.]

A scary prognosticative email from Arnow.

4-27-05 - David Schneider comments on the tenken question.

The third set of clues in the third contest. Look closely and win!

DC Misc - Assorted Candy from readers and me - wild parrots and flowers, wombats and more.

A letter from Eric Arnow in Thailand in which he gets a Bible and a Zen story mixed up.

4-26-05 - later in the day - New clues in the contest! The conundrum continues.

New DC Misc on Back from Texas plus one on work practice from last month.

A note about this link to the Marijuana Policy Project and a film to be shown in Sonoma County on the Future of Food (as promoted by Back Porch Zendo) in Current Events.

4-26-05 - New Shunryu Suzuki lecture. [now there's a new one - only one Suzuki lecture at a time per ZC agreement]

Gotta go visit Della at her Napa retirement home (see Zen Aluminati - Who) and when I get back I'll put Back from ten days in Texas on DC Misc and then add a new hint to exciting new contest #3. And there are so many other things I'd like to add so we'll see what I get around to. - DC

4-13-05 - Gotta run. See where I'm going and what I'm doing next in town and here on cuke.com.

4-10-05 - Hints to the answer for the new contest and emails regarding Lucent Technologies' and Spindrift's role in this conundrum.

Dan Kaplan asks a question about dharma groups in Shunryu Suzuki's lineage.

4-09-05 - A question about the history of the tenken which at ZC is the person who takes attendance.

4-08-05 - Oh, I forgot - Happy Birthday Buddha! (and thanks to Barrie Mason for the email reminding me). Not everyone celebrates Buddha's birthday on April 8th but it's the Japanese day. Ah, how fondly I remember pouring sweet tea over the little statues of the baby Buddha in Japan and at Tassajara, Page Street, and Green Gulch. I'll be going to Genjoji for their celebration at one on Sunday. I can walk there over lovely hilly country roads. - DC

Cuke.com is pleased and proud to announce A New Contest! This is the third one. And go to the new Contests Index to review the two prior contests.

4-07-05 - Emails with Dennis Marshall

March

3-31-05 - More on the Brian Victoria Page, including a recent letter from him with good news about Zen at War.

A note from Gene deSmidt on Mike Wynne's memorial service and another photo.

Brit Pyland says the shadow screen of Shunryu Suzuki at Page St. is by Al Wong, not Narcissus. Am checking. - DC

3-26-05 - Brian Victoria Page

3-25-04 - Interview with Maggie Kress done in 1994.

3-24-05 - Interview with Anon-1 done in 1993.

3-23-05  - Go to Current Events to see what you can do about the Massacre in San José de Apartadó in Columbia.

3-22-05 - DC  Misc. report.

3-20-05 It is with great sadness that I report that Michael Wynne died last night. Here is a photo of him and Wendy taken by Gene DeSmidt and a note from Gene.

3-19-05 - Some news in the Zen Aluminati update including: Our dharma sister Iva Jones needs help [link removed-she's fine now], sad news about Michael Wynne.

There's a new DC Misc. Index.

Arnow's most recent letter which brings them up to date. Also, his first one which hadn't been included. His photos also added to his letters of 2-20-05 and 2-10-05.

Thanks to Doug McKechnie for forwarding the great Daruma image.

3-17-05 - A fascinating personal note from DCabout what's happening here at the barn this Saturday.

A note about Taigen's Peace and Justice Page.

And check out his website, listed above, for his 10am lecture and afternoon seminar Saturday, March 26th at the SFZC. The seminar is on Dogen's Extensive Record. Please register by contacting the main office at San Francisco Zen Center (415) 863-3136

 and another Arnow letter.

3-13-05 - an article named Eclectic Couple that appeared in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat recently on Paul Discoe and his wife Ann Hatch.

Eric Arnow letter and Taigen's page.

3-12-05 - A new Shunryu Suzuki Lecture to read in either the verbatim or lightly edited mode.[now there's a new one - only one Suzuki lecture at a time per ZC agreement]

3-9-05 Zen Aluminati update - a visit with Ananda.

A bunch of new links to follow in Current Events and on Taigen's Peace and Justice Page.

Two letters from Eric Arnow in Thailand, #6 which I see I neglected to put in turn and #8. Soon I'll catch up.

3-4-5 - For those who know him, you can visit Ananda, Claude Dalenberg not far from Page Street. Also info on Della and Betty. See the new Zen Aluminati Statement. From there go to Who We are Thinking About.

Taigen's Peace and Justice Page.

Letter from Eric Arnow in Thailand

February

2-27-05 - Suzi Winson and Michael Rothenberg have co-edited a book published  by Fish Drum called Continuous Flame: A Tribute to Philip Whalen. Check it out here. Thank you Miriam.
See interview with Philip on this site.
Go to Whalen Link Page.

Another Eric Arnow letter and a photo from Thailand.

Check out the Drug Policy Alliance in Current Events.

2-26-05 - A DC Nonzense Comment or two

2-24-05 - Current Events.

2-23-05 - Nother letter from Eric Arnow in Thailand.

Go to DC Comments

and Taigen's Peace and Justice page

2-20-05 - Thanks to Brian McCord and Thomas Reichert for sending the link to the web site of the Sanshin Zen Community whose teacher, Shohaku Okumura's group in Bloomington Indiana. He of course is the co-translator of the book below and many more which are easy to find on his site - just go to the Writings link which leads to his books, Uchiyama Roshi's (his teacher) poetry, and a signup for their newsletter. I first met Okumura Sensei (or Rev. as the site calls him but I hate to use that - and he's just as much a Roshi as anyone else using that appelation but doesn't use that which is fine with me) in 1991 at a little temple-zendo he was running not far from Kyoto. He'd already been teaching in Massachusetts for five years. It wasn't long before he was back in the US. He was the priest of the Minnesota Zen Center for a while after Dainin Katagiri died and could have stayed as I understand it but started his own group. He's been around the SFZC a lot too and at times one can find him teaching classes and doing zazen at Sokoji, Shunryu Suzuki's old temple, in Japantown in San Francisco. I admire Shohaku Okumura a great deal. - DC

Here's another letter from Eric Arnow -  #3.

Taigen Dan Leighton (see note immediately below) is a tireless hound for peace and justice and all that and so I think I'll start putting up links to the stuff he sends me in the ragged old Current Events section of this site. Past apologies for delving into this lowly arena apply. If you are of another mind please send in your links or comments and they'll be added there as well. - DC

2-18-05 - What!? I haven't mentioned the unbelievably impressive and important DOGEN'S EXTENSIVE RECORD: A TRANSLATION OF THE EIHEI KOROKU. Translated by Taigen Dan Leighton and Shohaku Okumura; Edited and introduced by Taigen Dan Leighton; Foreword by Tenshin Reb Andersen; with introductory essays by Steven Heine and John Daido Loori (Wisdom Publications, 2004)!? Well, go to his Mountain Source Sangha website dharma books page and read about it and other books by the same gent(s) and then go buy one or more right away!

I tried to link to Shohaku Okamura's Indiana group but didn't find anything. Anyone got that info? - DC

And here's another letter from Eric Arnow in Thailand.

2-14-05 - Happy Valentines Day! Be my valentine - in the cosmic sense that is.

Other than that there's a new Shunryu Suzuki Lecture to read in either the verbatim or lightly edited mode. [now there's a new one - only one Suzuki lecture at a time per ZC agreement]

And there are a couple of ruminations from DC.

2-13-05 - A few miscellaneous comments from DC

2-02-05 - Peter Coyote's taken an apartment in Santa Monica, where he's spending weekdays -- he comes home to the Bay Area on weekends -- preparing for "The Inside,'' a new Fox series in which he plays a Zen master who leads a crime investigation team. - From Leah Garchik's Personal's column in today's SF Chronicle. Congrats Peter. See Peter's description of the Human Be-in in Golden Gate Park back in '67 (I was there) - from his book, Sleeping Where I Fall. - DC

2-01-05 - Interview with Kazuaki Tanahashi.

January

1-30-05 - Meeting with an ordinary monk - artist and scholar Kazuaki Tanahashi on Shunryu Suzuki

1-29-05 - Good evening. Spent hours tonight going over what interviews I have yet to put on this site. There's so much. I'll try to speed up. And so many people I still want to talk to to get their stories, their perspective. So here's one from tonight. Read the Interview with Silas Hoadley, close disciple of Shunryu Suzuki.

1-26-05 - Thanks to Rick Levine and David Silva for sending the link to the International Buddhist Film Festival site which is where the Suzuki movies (mentioned below) will be. But listen, don't expect too much. It's just some footage. Read more on this fascinating subject. including when the Suzuki movies will show.

1-25-05 - Thanks to alert reader Andrew Main for pointing out that the SFZC's website home page is not where the Suzuki Roshi at the Movies info is. You have to click on their Sangha News link in the upper left to get to it. Then scroll down.

For those who haven't yet checked it out Bring Me The Rhinoceros - And Other Zen Koans to Bring You Joy by John Tarrant, go to this page I lifted from The Pacific Zen Institute website.

 

 

Here's something I didn't know about: To Shine One Corner of the World: Moments with Shunryu Suzuki is available as an e-book on Amazon.com. Check it out here.

1-23-05 - Check out the SFZC's website and scroll down just a bit to see the announcement headlined Suzuki Roshi at the Movies. [oops! see note above for correction of this somewhat mistaken link - or, if you'd rather I tell you here and not have to look elsewhere, when you get to the SFZC website, just click on Sangha News in the upper left and scroll down].

1-16-05 - An interview with Jack Elias with a link to his interview on the Chronicle Project website for stories about Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and a link to Jack's site, Finding True Magic.

1-13-05 - Alight! Here's Interview II with Niels Holm. It's long and quite a ride.

1-12-05 - Oh, I forgot, Happy New Year! And here's a brief note from DC explaining why there's not so much happening here now. (partial explanation)

1-05-05 - Go to Development for thoughts about the future of this site, cuke.com's financial woes, the first streak of light of a new dawn, request of patrons of this site to ignore Hamlin Piper's attacks.