December

12-31-08 - Shunryu Suzuki student Fred Stoeber has died. I talked to his partner Miyo today. Continued. - dc

12-30-08 - Thanks to Madeleine the Mad Yurtwoman for sending a new link (on Smithsonian Folkways site) to fix the broken one to get Elsie Mitchell's classic The Way of Eiheiji: Zen Buddhist Ceremony now available in digital download as well as cD and tape.

Mad also sends a Smithsonian Folkways link to Japanese Buddhist Ritual from various sources.

Go to The Way of Eiheiji page on cuke.com for more and the Elsie Mitchell main page to learn more about her.

12-28-08 -  One of the earliest Shunryu Suzuki lectures that was recorded on September 9, 1965.

12-27-08 - Snyder on his correspondence with Ginsberg - from yesterday's SF Chronicle - thanks to Prof. John Nelson of USF.

12-26-08 - Bend Zen Group - where dc and Katrinka will be Monday night.

12-25-08 - Merry Xmas from the staff at cuke.com and here, from a random search is A Buddhist Christmas Card and check out Stephan Bodian's site for a dharmic Xmas best wishes titled Joy to the World. Don't know how long it will remain up front.

12-24-08 - Check out The Breakaway Cook who teaches Tassajara cooks.

12-23-08 - Check out Shambhala SunSpace with neat links and spotlights - like a tip of the hat to cuke.com with a Teaching of the Day from Shunryu Suzuki - can't link to their individual pages - just search in their site search box for "shunryu."

12-22-08 - A holiday card forwarded from Loring and Howie.

12-21-08 - A reminder for your holiday gift buying: Shambhala has brought John Tarrant's Bring me Rhinoceros back out

Check out Tarrant's books

and PZI (Pacific Zen Inst)

12-20-08 - Thanks to Rico Provasoli and Cheryl Foltos for sending Playing For Change: Song Around the World "Stand By Me" - goin to cukeTheArtsMusic.

12-19-08 - "If you can just appreciate each thing, one by one, then you will have pure gratitude. Even though you observe just one flower, that one flower includes everything." -- Shunryu Suzuki Roshi - thanks to Lisa Clark for sending this quote in which she says she got off one of her favorite photography sites.

12-18-08 - Holliday Gifts and Food for Wounded Knee - Beverly (Morris) (Horowitz) Armstrong) send this message.

Michael Gilman's {to the left is his studio and Tai Chi website} Chi Kung Meditation for World Peace - thanks Gregory

12-17-08 - Ananda Claude Dalenberg-Remembering My Friend by Ken O’Neill, Kyoshi

12-16-08 - This Wondrous Dharma by Barton Stone

12-14-08 - Nano Zazen

Thom Hartmann on Countdown - a great commentator on the political, social scene - and he goes deeper. See his website. - filed in CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism.

12-13-08 - Paul Shippee took this photo of Gregory Johnson and me sitting in front of the great home Paul built in Crestone back in early November. He's on the left.

12-12-08 - The biggest and brightest Full Moon to be seen in 15 years. The full moon will be especially big and bright. Read a brief bit about that and the moon illusion from BBC article.

A "light edit" of a Shunryu Suzuki lecture given on August 5, 1965. Gordon Geist, who's been making these "light edits" for us for years, sent this note with this lecture a little over a month ago. The verbatim version was posted earlier this year. - dc- dc

Here is something to take your mind off election! The heart sutra contains the heart or core of Buddha's teaching, and it boils down to one word which Suzuki deals with as "invisible" here. - GG

12-11-08 - An invitation from Tensho David Schneider to join with him and others who knew Philip Whalen to spend an evening sharing memories of Philip.

12-10-08 - Larry Hansen on Tim Aston's memorial service.

12-07-08 - Prop 8 Musical number

12-06-08 - Brad Warner's ZEN BOOKS THAT DON'T SUCK page.

12-05-08 - World must tackle Space Threat - a BBC science article which mentions The Association of Space Explorers roles in encouraging the nations of the world to get it together and deal with this threat which can be averted using present technology (and some R&D to get it down) and costing a fraction of what we spend on random violence. Posted in the cuke Species Threats section (space division).

12-04-08 - A Seasonal Letter --- from Brother David Steindl-Rast

12-03-08 - If you happen to be in Northern California, cuke suggests you heed this invite from Barton Stone.

Stone Creek Zen Center's annual fund-raising event, Zen Fest is happening this Sunday, the 7th, 9 to 4, at the Masonic Hall, across from Safeway in Sebastopol CA. There will be crafts, silent auction, raffle, Japanese lunches, gifts, Buddhas, prayer flags and more. We always have a good time producing this event, and it provides almost a third of our lean annual budget. My part in it is to make blackberry jam from the abundant and generous Mamalanda blackberries which several of you helped to pick, and a few Buddha altars (photo below). Gratitude to you each one for being who you be with such beauty. May your best way flourish!

Larry Hansen sends this message about a ceremony for Tim Aston

The memorial will be this Saturday evening on Quadra Island. I will lead the Prajna Paramita on my old mokugio. Whoever wants can tell stories or speak from the heart. I am bringing my banjo, and with a few local musicians will play will the Circle Be Unbroken and maybe get rowdy afterwards, Tim always liked a party (remember my story about EB serving Sake in the Zendo) [I'll put that on tomorrow - dc]

If any of the old crowd wants to e-mail me with a story or poem, I’d be happy to include it. I don’t think Silas can make it, I have told him, and Bill Benz in Portland. I will be sitting with Silas mid December in Pt Townsend.

If anyone wants to know where this memorial is, email me and I'll give you Larry's cell phone # - dchad@cuke.com.

12-02-08 - Suzuki student Tim Aston has died. Gyate gyate Tim, one of the originals at Tassajara, a great guy, a hard worker. Received this note from Larry Hanson.

12-01-08 - As the holiday season approaches, let's remember Koa Books, founded by our old friend Arnie Kotler, and let us likewise look at the Speir Publishing Bookstore to see if there might be an item or two or three that grabs our fancy.

It is now December and according to cukeLaw it is now permissible to play Christmas and other holiday music and to participate in other post Thanksgiving holiday activity such as caroling and advertising. This is a cuke compromise - we had lobbied for a later starting date. - dc

November

11-30-08 - Adi Da Samraj aka Da Free John aka Bubba Free John aka Franklin Jones died Thursday Nov. 27, 2008 of a massive heart attack while in his home in Fiji.

The Fiji Times story and copies of Adidam e-mails to devotees - you can learn more about Ada Da by looking around on that site, the Adi Da Archives.

Adi Da official site - Adidam.org

See A Taste of Persimmon by DC which includes other links.

11-29-08 - Life and other lives in the Barn - in DchadMisc

11-28-08 - Check out girlfromperth - a little project I've been doing in my spare time, mainly back in 2005 and 6. There are several parts and one is ready now. The rest soon but it's out of my hands so I can't say for sure. - dc

11-27-08 - Happy Thanksgiving. A Seneca (Iroquois) Thankfulness prayer. And I'm reminded of Gratefulness.org and Brother David's posts there - here's one.

11-26-08 - Flickr has a page on What Zen Means to You with some neat answers and images. - thanks Katrinka

11-25-08 - In keeping with the firmly established policy of enlightened nepotism, cuke.com proudly presents the website of Camille Koué, DC's niece.

11-24-08 - One of the earliest Shunryu Suzuki lectures that was recorded, delivered, I think, on August 26, 1965 - dc

On the way back to SF Bay area today. It's been great being in Colorado for two weeks finding some new materials for the Shunryu Suzuki archives and in Texas for ten days visiting mother and friends, and, among other things, eating at the Spiral Diner, a wonderful vegan restaurant. - dc

11-22-08 - Massive imprisonments underway in Burma and what to do

11-21-08 - I give up for now on getting the TIFF file of Della's notes (see yesterday) [It's NOT fixed again -  5-19-11 Fixed but file too big. Have to work on it at home, arriving 5-25-11 - dc] or the PDF to work. I screwed up when I copied it - missed page 35 and had to make it a second file and then a friend tried to put it back in but that file comes up as corrupted. Anyway, as a consolation prize, how about Steampunk's incredible PC laptop and check out this MAC laptop from the same amazing folks. Thanks AM.

11-20-08 - Della Goertz's notebook PDF [It's NOT fixed again -  5-19-11 Fixed but file too big. Have to work on it at home, arriving 5-25-11 - dc] (mostly Suzuki) (nead to go to View and rotate clockwise) p35 upside down and too big) Will fix when know how. I'm not used to working with PDFs. Assistance welcome. Got these notes from Richard Baker Roshi at Crestone Mountain Zen Center. Most are for dates we don't have transcripts. See brief Interview with Della. I have lots more from and on Della but can't find most of it on cuke. She's in Zen Aluminati. I just did a Google site search for Della [della site:www.cuke.com] and found a bunch of mentions but not some longer interviews I know I have - Barbara Lubanski did one. Need an intern to get to all this. Or maybe just time. - dc

11-19-08 - Meditations from the slow lane - November poems from Jerry Bolick

11-16-08 One reason why Barak Obama was the first presidential candidate to be endorsed by the American Humane Association. The first entry in a new Ahimsa section emphasizing doing as little harm as possible to our fellow-species.

Visiting mom and friends in Fort Worth, listening to the radio this Sunday morning while driving to a bakery for tea and wireless. Heard a minister criticizing other ministers who told their congregations how to vote and spread lies about Obama, saying he was a Muslim. Then he told a great Bible story. - in DchadMisc

11-15-08 - Terrific slideshow on the Monterrey Peninsula Herald's web site called Protecting Tassajara - with narration. - thanks to my sis Susan. See Tass 08 Fire.

11-13-08 - When in Colorado visit this Zen Boulder Colorado Bed and Breakfast - the Briar Rose Bed and Breakfast. It's beautiful, has a scrumptious breakfast, run by students of Zentatsu Baker Roshi, and has a zendo. It's across the street from Naropa University where I met with some folks. Tonight's my third blissful night here and the last in Colorado. Texas tomorrow. Got a few new lecture tapes and transcripts from Zentatsu to add to the archive and Della's lecture notes and some more stuff to go through. Up late making copies and getting stuff together. Ta ta. - dc

11-11-08 - A message from our worthy friends at the Chapel Hill ZC

The Chapel Hill Zen Center is the only Soto Zen temple of Suzuki Roshi’s lineage in the southeastern United States. Since 1991, Taitaku Pat Phelan, who trained for twenty years at San Francisco Zen Center and later received dharma transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman, has been leading the group. We have close ties with SFZC and its teachers, several of whom regularly visit. Some of our sangha members visit the SFZC to sit sesshin, and participate in practice intensives and Tassajara practice periods.

 CHZC began in the early 1980's with weekly zazen hosted by Frank and Mo Ferrell and Lois Bateson. It now offers daily zazen, monthly all-day sittings, and two full sesshins a year. About 150 people receive zazen instruction annually. Despite the fact that we can accommodate nearly forty people sitting zazen in the meditation hall, special ceremonies and visiting teachers often bring more people than we can comfortably seat, and sometimes there isn’t enough space even at our regular Sunday program. 

We are now building an addition to help accommodate this growth, as well as putting in a new heating and air conditioning system, along with other improved energy efficiencies throughout the building. Having already paid approximately two-thirds of the $145,000 total cost of our expansion and renovation, we are seeking to raise the $55,000 that remains. We warmly invite and welcome your support!

 Chapel Hill Zen Center is a pioneering effort in sharing the Dharma in the Southeast. Even after being in this area for nearly thirty years, North Carolina often feels like the “frontier” of Buddhist practice. We have faith in the far-reaching effects of these efforts, so we invite you to join us in expanding our Temple to support the many people who come to hear the teaching, who ask for zazen instruction, and who seek to continue Suzuki Roshi’s Way. Contributions are tax-deductible and can be mailed to the Chapel Hill Zen Center, P O Box 16302, Chapel Hill, NC 27516.

 Sincerely,

Carla Antonaccio, President

Nov. 11 - Shambhala has brought John Tarrant's Bring me Rhinoceros back out

Check out Tarrant's books

and PZI (Pacific Zen Inst

11-10-08 - Wisdom Books - Elequent Silence - Nyogen Senzaki - that's the English site but you'll get the idea if you're somewhere else.

Leaving Crestone today with the Bakers after two blissful and productive weeks for three nites in Boulder. - dc

11-07-08 - Sophia Baker woos audience in Crestone Charter School cello performance.

In less important news, the fall 2008 issue of Inquiring Mind is out and one tiny item of interest in it, not listed on their web site, is that on page 31 there is a review of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by yours truly, DC. It's for their Dharma Jewel series. I resisted their request at first, saying that maybe they should get someone less compromised to do the review, but I gave in after they disagreed, partly because I thought it would be a good exercise for me to state in brief what I thought was most essential about the book. Also, Inquiring Mind is a great publication. 

Pot Wins in a Landslide: A Thundering Rejection of America's Longest War

11-06-08 - RIP Marilyn Ferguson

11-05-08 - hallelujah!

Barak Obama speaks to a crowd of over 100,000 on October 18th

If you look in the distance there, you can see a building with a greenish-copper

dome. That's the Old St. Louis Courthouse. For years and years, slaves were

auctioned on the steps of that courthouse. The Old Courthouse used to be called 

the St. Louis State and Federal Courthouse.

Back in 1850, two escaped slaves named Dred and Harriett Scott had their petition

for freedom overturned in a case there. Montgomery Blair took the case to the US

Supreme Court on Scott's behalf and had Chief Justice Roger Taney throw it out

because, as he wrote, the Scotts were 'beings of an inferior order, and altogether

unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations, and

so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.

Text from unknown source - thanks to Jane Bay for passing it on and for a hallelujah email as well.

On Obama's Victory Speech, a note from elder son:

This is one of those moments I was born too late to experience………..until now, 35 years in. The delivery of sincerity, hope, vision, depth, transformation and eloquence is so powerful it transcends whether or not our species’ terminal direction can be changed. It speaks to our soul, to the higher elements of existence. It reminds us of the divine in humanity.

 Love to you all,

Kelly Chadwick

The whole cuke.com staff sends its condolences to Buddhists for McCain Palin, Zennists for Nader, and Mahayanists for Barr.

11-04-08 - It's a big day in the USA. How's the betting going?

The Most Accurate Election Forecast? Hardcore Gamblers

11-03-08 - Cuke picks Talking Points Memo as the best site to follow polling and election results. Bill Moyers says he starts his day with TPM.

Huffington Post's Voting Problems section is excellent. - Filed in election fraud but voting problems is a better more all-encompassing name.

11-01-08 - Andrew Main sends his favorite web site with quotes from the great Nisargadatta. He adds this:

Each time you refresh it, it gives you another quotation.

"Stop hurting yourself and others, stop suffering, wake up. When you  
begin to question your dream, awakening will be not far away." -  
Nisargadatta Maharaj (Jack Kornfield says his name translates roughly  
as "Mr. Natural" - it does, I looked it up - which I, er, naturally  
like.)

Visit Grace Dammann's Caringbridge site and read her wonderful Halloween message and send her a note. Grace is the doctor who lives at Green Gulch and had a terrible accident on the Golden Gate Bridge a few months ago.

Great oral historian Studs Terkel has died at his home in Chicago, aged 96

October

10-30-08 - Currently the cuke.com staff is at Crestone Mountain Zen Center - doing SSLP research and development.

Republican voter suppression guide from TPM - posted in election fraud

Eunoia - beautiful thinking

10-25-05 - Obama or McCain? Cuke.com presents both sides - you decide

Zennies for Obama submit these videos:

Ron Howard's dynamite Obama ad (with Andy Griffith and Henry Winkler)

"Oui, on peut -- Yes we can!" OBAMA ZYDECO FROM LOUISIANA 2008

Yes We Can - traditional version

Kelly Chadwick's email to his conservative friends

Buddhists for McCain present their case:

Why women should vote for McCain/Palin

Comparing Obama with McCain

Why I'm Voting Republican - reasons from many sources

****************

filed in CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism

10-24-08 - The entire Shobogenzo and much more on the Talks page of Shasta Abby. This group offers a lot. Recently I heard that they went total dana, meaning that they're not charging for anything but relying on contributions. I also heard that this approach increased their income. Anyone who can corroborate this please let me know. Right now I don't have time to look into it. Too busy herding the cats. - dc

Doctor Laments Brush-off of Iraqi War Dead - Tom Paulson of Hearst Newspapers on the research of Dr. Les Roberts. Here's another article by Paulson on Roberts from last year. - filed in CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism

10-23-08 - One of the earliest Shunryu Suzuki lectures that was recorded, delivered on June 23, 1966. It's not the next in the series but came back highly recommended from the transcriber - GM (rather than GC or GD). Thanks Gloria. - dc

10-20-08 - Gary Snyder links for today

Interview with Gary Snyder on NCTV11

Snyder's poem in October New Yorker

On the October New Yorker interview with Snyder (don't find the interview - get the magazine)

thanks George Andrews for the tip

Photos of Gary Snyder

In Cuke

DC on Gary Snyder on Shunryu Suzuki

Parting with Claude Dalenberg by Gary Snyder

On sitting and sweeping

There are other mentions of him in interviews - search the site. Should get a search function on cuke plus do a million other improvements. You can search any site in Google by writing <search term> site: <website address> and write the web site address for cuke as <www.cuke.com>. Understand? - dc

10-19-08 - Check out the One Drop Zendo site. Great photo of Shodo Harada whom I studied with in Japan and who was our constant benefactor.

Happy birthday Elin!

10-17-08 - Thanks to Shunryu Suzuki disciple Ron Browning for sending the latest on Election Fraud.

Block the Vote by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. & Greg Palast in the current issue (#1064) of Rolling Stone.

The Kennedy-Palast revelations go far beyond the sum of questionably purged voters recently reported by the New York Times. Read more about this and how to get the comic book in the cuke.com Election Fraud department.

10-16-08 - A poem from Barton Stone

10-13-08 -  Congratulations to Paul Krugman for winning the Nobel Prize for Economics. Happy day.

10-12-08 - Love Naomi Wolf, warning about America's slide into fascism

End of America - the movie from Wolf's book

In the CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism section.

Happy birthday Kelly, not my son but my father who died when I was 11. He was my first spiritual teacher.

10-11-08 - Why the GOP Is Nuts About ACORN

ACORN home page

Here's the CBS report on registration purging

Ten ways the McCain/Palin GOP is now stealing the Ohio vote

These reports filed in the Election Fraud department of the CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism Section.

Look for some Zen and Suzuki stuff here too coming soon. The webmaster is temporarily blinded by these petty phenomenal concerns. - dc

10-10-08 - BBC-TV: "Set up to steal it again."
Is 2008 already fixed? - Greg Palast

"A lot of Europeans wonder:  Why are Americans so crazy, they keep reelecting this guy?”  Well the answer is, we don’t!  They keep stealing these elections!  And they stole it in 2000, they stole it in 2004, and they’re all set up to steal it again!" - Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on BBC Television Newsnight - 10-10-08

Read about ACORN which registers voters and the phony voter fraud case against them so their registrations can be thrown out. Here's a follow up on how the media is buying into it.

These reports filed in the Election Fraud department of the CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism Section.

Deregulation sank the Titanic.

10-09-08 - Former Ganden Tripa Stays on 'Thukdam' for 18 Days - Thanks Cheryl

Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on Death and Rebirth
by Lama Ole Nydhal, Vajrayana Buddhist Lama - on BuddhaNet

filed in Death and Dying

10-08-08 - Notes on the results of the recent fire that threatened Tassajara

- filed in the Tass 08 Fire Dept

New York Times - States’ Actions to Block Voters Appear Illegal (and they're talking swing states) - Filed in the Election Fraud section.

10-04-08 - Peter Rudnick's urban farming featured in this article in the SF Chron.

10-03-08 - Some links to articles on lose your house lose your vote and other election fraud

10-04-08 - Peter Rudnick's urban farming featured in this article in the SF Chron.

Happy birthday Kelly, eldest son - 35! (he says it's the beginning of middle age)

10-02-08 - A light edit of a Shunryu Suzuki lecture dated July 8, 1965 - the first known recorded lecture. From there you can link to the unedited version and other of the earliest lectures. Thanks to Gordon Geist in Norway who has been doing these light edits for us for years.

10-01-08 - the conspiracy worth your time - election fraud.  Tonight's CBS evening news covers this under-reported subject that most Democrats have been shying away from even though it is costing them elections, like for instance the last two presidential elections. Take  a look at:

New Study Details Massive Voter Roll Purges Underway in At Least 19 States

Brennan Center  for Justice Report on Voter Purges (released today).

Look at past links in the cuke election fraud section.

tomorrow - something Buddhist I promise - dc

September

9-30-08 - Bill's Schwob's wonderful Art Work will be exhibited at Emeryvill Art Exhibition. 5815 Shellmound Way, Emeryville 94608
Exhibition Dates: October 4 though October 26
Exhibition Hours: 11am-6pm daily
Reception: October 3, Friday, 6pm-9pm
Bill did a great series of photos of Rinsoin, Suzuki Roshi's temple in Japan. Must get them scanned and on cuke.com. Check out the web site for Bill's professional photography..

9-29-08 - A message from Nonin Chowaney of the Nebraska Zen Center about his condition. Heal quickly dear friend!

9-28-08 - Support the monks in Burma. Sign this petition. See this video.

9-27-08 - Check out Fil Lewitt's three novels. Here's an Amazon link. Waiting for his memories of Suzuki Roshi. Fil's been living in Japan for years and is about to move to Thailand with his wife. Here's a message from Fil about them.

9-26-08 - From elder son Kelly, check out Dolphin rings. Kelly writes:

This is truly incredible and I found myself, once again, humbled in the face of life’s complexity and intelligence. A reminder of how important it is that human’s begin to respect the planet on a much deeper and far reaching manner. I would read the explanation before watching.
PS, it checked out on Snopes.

9-25-08 - A message about Thank You and OK!. I don't usually print emails and letters I get about my books but I do get them and thought I'd share this one. Thanks Nicolas. - DC

9-24-08 - Buddhist Peace Fellowship covering a lot of pressing matters.

Note their upcoming events.

Congratulations to Ekai Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, BPF's Executive Director, who received ordination as a Zen priest in the tradition of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi on Saturday, September 20th at San Francisco Zen Center, from her teacher  Zenkei Blanche Hartman. A large circle of family, friends, dharma  brothers and sisters were there to witness and celebrate.

9-23-08 - Gladys Hansen just passed away in Santa Rosa.

A note from Ann Myosho Kyle Brown In Mendocino:

Gladys Hansen, a long time sangha member and dedicated practitioner of Soto Zen Buddhism passed away yesterday at her home in Santa Rosa.  

This week, there will be two opportunities to join in community in remembrance of Gladys.  Tonight, at the regular North Coast Buddhist Sangha, at the Caspar Children's Garden, at 7 p.m. we will dedicate the evening to her and have an opportunity to share memories together.  

This coming Sunday, at 4 p.m. at Kumeido, there will be a memorial service and chanting in her honor and, in lieu of the dharma talk, an opportunity to remember her life in our sangha and community.  All are welcome.

The SFZC also had a brief service for Gladys.

A new book on the sham of political polls by an insider.

- file in CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism.

9-22-08 - Was standing at work meeting at Tassajara this morning when someone announced that at 8:44 this morning (Pacific Standard Time) we're officially in the autumn season. Happy equinox! - dc

On Late Term Abortions - filed in DchadMisc

9-20-08 - An Open Letter From a Former Religious Right Activist - file in CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism.

9-19-08 - Check out Zen Architecture, a new book by Paul Discoe. More on this soon.

Gib Smith Publisher link

Amazon link.

9-18-08 - Judy Gilbert Tassajara fire photos. I've asked her for info to go with each but till then here they are.

9-17-08 - Photos of Tassajara after the fire by Shundo David Haye - more from him and others to come. Please pardon my tardiness. - dc

Flag Rock and Tassajara  

  Another view

Filed in Tassajara Fire '08

9-16-08 - NRCAT - Torture is a Moral Issue - a reminder

9-15-08 - Greg Palast on Voter Suppression. In CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism.

9-22-08 - Was standing at work meeting at Tassajara this morning when someone announced that at 8:44 this morning (Pacific Standard Time) we're officially in the autumn season. Happy equinox! - dc

On Late Term Abortions - filed in DchadMisc

9-20-08 - An Open Letter From a Former Religious Right Activist - file in CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism.

9-19-08 - Check out Zen Architecture, a new book by Paul Discoe. More on this soon.

Gib Smith Publisher link

Amazon link.

9-18-08 - Judy Gilbert Tassajara fire photos. I've asked her for info to go with each but till then here they are.

9-17-08 - Photos of Tassajara after the fire by Shundo David Haye - more from him and others to come. Please pardon my tardiness. - dc

Flag Rock and Tassajara  

  Another view

Filed in Tassajara Fire '08

9-16-08 - NRCAT - Torture is a Moral Issue - a reminder

9-15-08 - Greg Palast on Voter Suppression. In CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism.

9-14-08 - Congrats to BOP Secrets for ten years on the web!

9-13-08 - Check out The Best of Inquiring Mind just released by Wisdom Books. Check out Inquiring Mind dot com.

9-12-08 - Happy birthday Susan! (big sis)

9-11-08 - "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind" - Mahatma Ghandi

9-10-08 - Gosh - thanks for the one month off from cuke.

Here's another in the series of earliest recorded Shunryu Suzuki Lectures, the sixth. It's titled "Water."  It was delivered 43 years ago on August 19, 1965. This became the chapter of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind named "Nirvana, the Waterfall," on page 92.

August

8-13-08 - Happy 94th birthday Ahdel! (mom - still working, driving, taking care of her boyfriend - and me -dc)

8-10-08 - Off to Tassajara for ten days - burglars take note.

Here's another in the series of earliest recorded Shunryu Suzuki lectures, the fifth,  which went on to become the first chapter of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. It's titled "Posture." It was delivered 43 years and two days ago on August 12, 1965. When I get back I'll put up the first edited version of it and maybe scan Trudy Dixon's transcript with editing marks.

Email sent August 2008 Explaining the SSLP Archive Subscription - It details a project to put the entire Shunryu Suzuki "media archive" on one hard disk and to duplicate that HD to be shared with teachers in the lineage and other interested parties such as scholars. Media archive means the audio, print, film, and photos related to Suzuki. It's called an archive subscription because it would be updated periodically as work on the archive progresses. There are other archival copies being made as well such as on CD. Right now six copies of the audio archive (Suzuki Roshi's lectures) are being made - as I fork over money. This is the first step in the new Shunryu Suzuki Legacy Project (SSLP), motto: To Preserve and Deliver. This step is in progress and is going to cost over ten thousand dollars. I've borrowed some money to get it going. Please help if you can. See donation info to the right or go to Donate Info. Mercy. Thanks. DC

Welcome to Heart Like Water

8-08-08 - An auspicious day.

An important reader's comment and response about how I shouldn't demean Suzuki's legacy with personal opinion and my shocking response which, for those who wish to go no further, is to get this site divided into the pure Suzuki realm and the DC personal expression realm - or better yet have two distinct domains. - DC.

8-06-08 - Hiroshima Day - ICAN - International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. One article on the threat of accidental nuclear war with Russia, possibly the #1 threat to the human race even today. Filed in Species Threats under #!.

Darlene Cohen's brother David's strange website - the Limping Gazelle.

8-02-02 - The Day the Fire Arrived more great stuff from David Zimmerman

Photos of Tassajara - by Mako (many) and Gene deSmidt (four) and a poem

And a photo of the Tassajara Five illustrating the point of Gene's poem

July

7-25-08 - Here's the fourth in the series of Shunryu Suzuki's earliest lectures, all four referring to the Heart Sutra.

Willam Malten sends a report from the Amazon rainforest - videos

7-24-08 - The story is still being told at Sitting with Fire and on the SFZC Fire Info page. Make sure you haven't missed this account called The Events Surrounding the Third Evacuation and the Tassajara Five's Return.

7-22-08 - Green Gulch farm on CBS Sunday Morning Show two days ago. Thanks HK

7-21-08 - Again, pardon the absence. Have been working on SSLP project and fundraising and development and till August will be in retreat working on a grant proposal to the NEH. Till then look around this site - there's a ton of stuff here and there - it's a big maze. See you later. Take care. - dc

Hooray for the Tassajara Five!

L to R: Graham Ross, Mako Voelkel, David Zimmerman, Steve Stucky, Colin Gipson

7-15-08 - from Firefighter Blog: Tassajara "Fire Monks" Story Remains Untold

7-14-08- Read Tassajara Director David Zimmerman's report.

7-13-08 - Tassajara Fire Update - various reports and media

7-11-08 - The links below are still the best links to info on the Tassajara fire which is there right now. Sorry for the absence. I'm very busy creating more sandcastles. #1 priority right now is to raise $ to keep the SSLP going. Please donate. Also having time consuming computer hardware and software maintenance problems. Also working in spare time on new POD book and music project. Back soon. - dc

June

6-28-08 - There's an update on the SFZC site on the fires near Tassajara. US Forest Service Los Padres National Forest page. But the best is Sitting with Fire, a blog from Jamesburg specifically on this fire.

Hollow Bones - it's a dark web site. I can read it better by hitting Cntrl + a few times to zoom in. Interesting Rinzai Zen site. Thanks JS

What have we changed our minds about? - in Dchad Misc

6-27-08 - 6-27-08 - KUSP Emergency Big Sur - a good link to follow the fire in the Los Padres National Forest. We cams including one from Nepenthe. Thanks John Steiner. Here's a better US Forest Service link for updates on the fires.

Talked to SFZC co-abbot yesterday and learned that there are only 14 students now at Tassajara and that the Forest Service is advising them on what to do to prepare for the fire which should reach there in a couple of days. More people might go back in to help out. Right now there are a bunch of Tassajara refugees at the City Center. See entry for 6-25 right below. SFZC link. US Forest Service Los Padres National Forest page. I think they're not too too worried but it IS fire and in the forest.

6-26-08 - Hey - guess what. The SFZC board accepted the SSLP proposal yesterday. This is, cuke-wise, a big deal and long in the making. Nine bows to those who worked hard to make it happen. Now to go to the Mercedes showroom.

Thanks to John Cusack and Keith Olbermann for doing their bit to remind us that we're in a war, a war we forget and which networks are neglecting - check out 2 minutes a week. Remember - it's not just those bad crooks running the US, it's all of us allowing this to happen - forgetting the human toll of Iraq and, oh yes, that other war.

6-25-08 - Tassajara Springs, Zen Mt. Center guests have had to leave due to nearby fires - the whole forest is closed. Hit that link on the SFZC site and there's more info. Students who wanted to stay were permitted to do so. I see it was closed on the 23rd. That's all I know. Here's a link to US Forest Service Los Padres National Forest page.

6-25-08 - Guru of Vegies, an article in today's Press Democrat on Deborah Madison. Deborah Madison's website.

Dance with Matt around the world! - thanks JR

6-24-08 - National Religious Campaign Against Torture -

Declaration of Principles for a Presidential Executive Order
On Prisoner Treatment, Torture and Cruelty

Please join in endorsing this Declaration

You can also sign the statement of conscience here

6-23-08 - The great George Carlin dies - who got his 2nd start (getting fired after 3 months in Boston) as a DJ in my home town of Fort Worth Texas at KXOL I listened to starting in 55 for the great rock and roll and rhythm and blues that was just getting going strong on the airwaves. I even hung out at the station some in 56. Carlin came later. A friend of mine was president of his fan club. Do a Google video search or a YouTube search to hear some great Carlin monologues like on "Religion is bullshit," "Life is worth loosing," his fantastic comparison of baseball and football, the wonderful bit on "the planet is fine," (it's us who are doomed) and his recent "on voting." He had his views that aren't mine but I love the points he made and how they make us look at assumptions. And because of Carlin I never say "hot water heater," just "water heater." Bye George!

6-22-08 - Words to Songs To Find the Girl from Perth - with or without chords - wanted to put this somewhere for people I'm working with on this and thought - why not here - it ain't no secret. [go to www.girlfromperth.com]

6-21-08 - Here's the third of Shunryu Suzuki's earliest recorded lectures - July 22nd, 1965 - also the third one where he is referring to the Heart Sutra.

6-20-08 - Just got this shocking message from Dana Velden (I like that name), the Corporate Secretary of the SFZC:

You may already know this, but CC is mentioned in the novel The Raw Shark Texts. Only, it’s referred to as SR’s autobiography.  Sheesh!  It also implies that SR is the author of Zen Flesh, Zen Bones…

This is how history is made. - dc

6-19-08 - Check out Two Balding Fat Guys. See the one on bass - that's Paul who is to publish an upcoming venture of mine. Paul was chosen by the cuke board of directors after an exhausting search for the best in POD - print on demand. You'll be hearing more about this. Anyway - check out their songs. When I get around to it I'll start a Christian section on cuke and Two Balding Fat Guys will be there. - dc

6-18-08 - Darwinmania! from the NYT

6-17-08 - Just noticed that Suzuki Roshi's next to last lecture wasn't in with his final lectures.

6-18-08 - Been super busy with a bunch of SSLP writing and phoning and there are a zillion bad links on cuke that I'm fixing and had some very time consuming computer glitches that led me to reformat my desktop and then have to reload. I've got to get one of those mirror back ups so I don't have to reload. But I thought I'd share what programs are my computers. Some of them are tres nifty and someone out there may have some other thoughts.

6-15-08 - A note from Woodstock -

Kindness was what I felt when in the presence of Shunryu Suzuki and it was a kindness I didn't have. Even now when I see him in my minds eye I am humbled by his example.

egg

Daniel Eggink

filed in brief memories

More on Daniel

6-14- Michael Sawyer's 's funeral will be on Sunday, July 6, 2008 at 3 p.m at Green Gulch Farm. (Call 415-354-0411 for directions)

6-13-08 - If you haven't seen this slide show on Dubai you might be interested - filed in CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism (thanks Kelly).

Compare the Green Mega City of the future - if we survive (thanks JR).

6-12-08 -Proposal for Fiscal Year 2008 for SFZC Support for Shunryu Suzuki Archiving - from the Shunryu Suzuki Legacy Project - 5th draft of suggestions for the final proposal to be submitted to the Board of the San Francisco Zen Center. This goes on the SSLP page where there are links to the 25 page report and a quick report on the oral and written history work. - dc

6-10-08 -

Inquiring Mind

(an old cover I like)

Inquiring since 1983

Check it out. - dc

6-09-08 - Michael Sawyer to be cremated today. Tomorrow night a service for him at the Back Porch Zendo in Occidental. See notice from Elizabeth Sawyer.  - Michael Sawyer's amazing art featured with an article in the latest Tricycle

Buddhism in a Global Age of Technology - Lew Lancaster on YouTube. The intro says: A distinguished scholar of Buddhism, Lewis Lancaster founded the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative to use the latest computer technology to map the spread of various strands of Buddhism from the distant past to the present. Series: "Burke Lectureship on Religion & Society"  Lew writes:

6-07-08 - A poem on Shunryu Suzuki by Jaan Kaplinski in the new Reflections on Suzuki section (or is that a department). - thanks Wenger

(new section started 6-07-08 - send suggestions)

6-07-08 - A poem on Shunryu Suzuki by Jaan Kaplinski in the new Reflections on Suzuki section (or is that a department). - thanks Wenger

(new section started 6-07-08 - send suggestions)

6-06-08 - In case you missed it. Michael Sawyer's amazing art featured with an article in the latest Tricycle. Gya te gya te.

Within us is the soul of the whole; the wise silence, the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is related. When it breaks through our intellect, it is genius; when it breathes through our will, it is virtue; when it flows through our affections, it is love. (Ralph Waldo Emerson) - thanks Ray and Kathy Watkins.

---

Thanks to James Morgan for bugging me to get the PayPal donate button:

to cuke.com and the Shunryu Suzuki Legacy Project with PayPal. Or, to mail a tax deductible donation.

---

6-05-08 - Michael Sawyer died today at about noon at Green Gulch farm, peacefully, surrounded by family and friends, his long struggle with Parkinson's is over. More.

6-04-08 - Check out Clark Strand on bridging Buddhism and the Bible and on the World Wisdom site and here's an article by him on meditation with gurus.

6-03-08 - What a relief. Buried in serious, torturous self-created delusions and nonsense about all sorts of crap I'm involved with, a breath of freshness in the form of a  Joe Frank story about ascending K2 liberated and inspired and set me on a new course of delight and wonder. Filed in Digressions. - dc

6-02-08 - Grace Dammann care page.

6-01-01 - Hi. I only check once a month to see how many visitors there are to cuke. Last month averaged 1069 folks coming here every day with an average of 6926 hits a day, in 5482 average files a day and 2491 pages. Not sure what the difference between pages and files is. Don't know what these figures mean and there are further stats that I don't go look at which could be helpful in understanding - like where people came to in the site first - but cuke is rather short staffed at the moment.

Here's the second of Shunryu Suzuki's earliest transcribed lectures.

May

5-30-08 - Grace Dammann has been upgraded to critical stable condition. Michael Sawyer is no longer eating or drinking. See more on Sangha news.  See Michael's amazing art featured with an article in the latest Tricycle.

5-29-08 - A friend just sent me a link to Alan Watts Theater, not realizing it had been featured on cuke last year. But I've got high weed mowing both here and at Clay's school tomorrow, so be reminded oh dear cuke reader of this bit of wisdom from Watts and the gang who makes South Park. I've coincidentally been dealing with Mark Watts, son of Alan, because Mark has been an archivist not only of his father's voluminous works - see Alan Watts dot com - but of Shunryu Suzuki tapes.  Mark said that one day he got a call from Matt Stone saying you he and his friend Troy Parker had a little adult cartoon show you probably don't know about and we're interested in doing some work together. Mark, like me, was and is a South Park fan and went and spent three weeks in LA and that first link up there is what they came up with. Now it's also got a home in cuke-The-arts film-video section. And thanks for reminding us Delsing.

5-29-08 - A friend just sent me a link to Alan Watts Theater, not realizing it had been featured on cuke last year. But I've got high weed mowing both here and at Clay's school tomorrow, so be reminded oh dear cuke reader of this bit of wisdom from Watts and the gang who makes South Park. I've coincidentally been dealing with Mark Watts, son of Alan, because Mark has been an archivist not only of his father's voluminous works - see Alan Watts dot com - but of Shunryu Suzuki tapes.  Mark said that one day he got a call one day from Matt Stone saying you he and his friend Troy Parker had a little adult cartoon show and were interested in doing some work together. Mark, like me, was and is and South Park fan and went and spent three weeks in LA and that first link up there is what they came up with. And thanks for reminding us Delsing.

5-28-08 - There's a Shunryu Suzuki Legacy Project meeting today that the Shunryu Suzuki archive report mentioned yesterday was for. The next report will be on the oral and written history work on Suzuki and those whose lives he touched and the times and all - like what cuke is mainly about. Got up this morning at two to do a quick mock up of this next report. Here it is.

5-27-08 - Thanks to Prof John Nelson at USF for carefully going over the draft proposal from yesterday and making suggested changes which are now incorporated. Here's the latest version - still quickly done.

Taken with the crappiest of cellphone cameras. The largest installation of Henry Moore sculptures is currently at the New York Botanical Garden. According to MS they are all Buddhas, most of them reclining. Thanks Michael Sierchio via Katrinka.

5-26-08 - Please excuse the absence. Working on two reports for the SSLP - Shunryu Suzuki Legacy Project. Here - might as well put this one on cuke. It's called Report on the Shunryu Suzuki Media Archive with a Focus on Lectures. There's nothing secret in it. Or is there? If there is, will you find it? Let me know what the secret is and you may win the key. In the meantime I'm backdating five entries so it will look like I put something on every day.

5-25-08 - Four more great brush paintings from Michael Wenger.

5-24-08 - Check out Iva Jones new blog in which she explains her vision for a new non profit.

5-23-08 - The Goddess Alchemy Project in a Nonesuch School benefit this coming Saturday nite, the 31st of May in Sebastopol.

click thumbnail to enlarge

5-23-08 - Pacific Zen Institute Pledge Drive - Help them meet the matching gift of 12K.

5-22-08 - Check out the BPF teen retreat and the young adult retreats while you're at it go to their home page and see everything this great outfit is up to and reporting on.

5-21-08 - Prayers for Grace Dammann from Green Gulch Farm who was severly injured in an accident on the Golden Gate Bridge yesterday. Grace was air-lifted to John Muir hospital in Walnut Creek. She survived the night but is in critical condition with many broken bones. Her and Fu Nancy Schroeder's daughter Sabrina suffered a broken hand and is to be released from Marin General Hospital later today. Her service dog Max is in veterinary care.

Correction and update on the recent accounts of finding original Shunryu Suzuki lecture transcriptions. That's all for today. Have to hand in two reports tomorrow on the state of the Shunryu Suzuki lecture archive and the oral and written history archive with recommendations as to how to proceed. More on this later. -dc

5-21-08 - The earliest apparently verbatim lecture from Los Altos - no tape but obviously transcribed as he said it.

5-18-08 - Shunryu Suzuki lecture on FUKETSU'S "ONE PARTICLE OF DUST." Read this light edit and compare it with the verbatim version.

5-17-08 - On finding the transcriptions of the original lectures that Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind was edited from - and more.

5-16-08 - Here's another entry from Danny Fisher's blog - A gentle reminder from Tai Situ Rinpoche. - thanks to Anna Noe Bonas for sending these Fisher blogs

5-15-08 - Check out Danny Fisher's "blog of an American Buddhist Chaplain." His May 17th entry is an interview with James Zito, the producer/director of the documentary Compassion and Wisdom: A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life.

5-14-08 - Congratulations to Barbara Wenger, honored recently as founder of Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group. Thanks Lane Olson for the tip. And I saw Barbara right afterwards in her own home and she didn't even mention it. I was there meeting with her hubby, Michael Wenger, about the Shunryu Suzuki lecture archive.

I encouraged Michael to send more jpgs of his whimsical yet profound art which I'm including now in the new Art-Art department of Cuke-the arts. Next we'll have to get some of Barbara's photos. There are a bunch in cuke but who knows where.

That reminds me - to order Barbara Wenger's slide slow with 650  photos of Tassajara Alumni click the PDF file.

Here's the sort of thing Barbara has done: the City Center neighborhood the Peace Wall

- thanks Wengers - dc

5-13-08 - Check out the website for Alex Murawski, the artist who did the great cover for Thank You and OK! an American Zen Failure in Japan. And click on that thumbnail to enlarge. When Shambhala republished this book I got hold of Alex through his web site and he still had the original which was rescanned which is why it looks so great now. Thinking about Alex because sought advice for agreement with artist on cover and images for other book coming soon. - dc [filed in Art-Art]

5-12-08 - Listen to Luther Barnes & The Red Budd Gospel Choir sing:"My God Can Do Anything." and read comment by dc on it in the cuke-The-arts Music department.

Check out Poetry Chaikana, sacred poetry from around the world. And from that site a bunch of Han Shan poems. - going to the cuke-The-arts Writing page Thanks Linda via Katrinka

5-11-08 - Happy Mother's Day to all moms! We couldn't do it without you!

Miriam Bobkoff emailed in the correct links for her and Miriam Sagan's memories of and in memoriam for Philip Whalen. They're on Santa Poetry Broadside. Here's the in memorium which consists of twelve of Philip's poems, here are the Miriams' memories and here's Anne MacNaughton's.  See the main page for Philip Whalen.

Preparing the mind for death - the Theravada Approach by Venerable Aggacitta Bhikkhu.  - thanks to Ron Browning. This will go to the oft neglected Death and Dying section.

5-10-08 - Tony Patchell sends that Cooks needed for BPF youth retreats

Seeking info and corrections on brief bio in progress of Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi

James Ford remembers Ananda Claude Dalenberg in his blog. I sent my regards and one tiny correction about how many people Suzuki ordained. See Ananda main page on cuke.

5-09-08 - The new SFZC sangha-e newsletter is full of interesting ZC news. If you don't get it emailed, here's the link to it on the SFZC site.

Like Gardening at the Dragon's Gate by Wendy Johnson (cuke link) was just featured in the NY Times and SF Chron review by Don Lattin. How to Cook Your Life featuring Edward Brown is now available on DVD - see the cuke page for this movie. And more

5-08-08 - Concentrating on a report on the Shunryu Suzuki lecture archive but I want to put something here to fill the void in our desperate hollow lives, so how about highlighting this link that came at the end of Memories of Philip Whalen from the day before yesterday which is about the destruction of the University of Nalanda and a lot more than that - read all about it - just in case you missed it.

Also, in looking at one of a zillion links on Philip I was reminded of the web site of Miriam Bobkoff. She had something there on Philip Whalen but I don't see it. Can you find it? Also, for an example of modesty, check out what photo Miriam uses for herself - see link at bottom of page just above her email address. - dc - see 5-11-08 for Miriam's answer with the links.

5-07-08 - UN - Myanmar a Major, Major Disaster

Campaign for Burma   BBC - aid arriving

5-06-08 - Memories of Philip Whalen by dc written after the Celebration of Philip Whalen at the 5-03-08 SF Public Library.

5-05-08 - Just saw the Tassajara Alumni Reunion Video that was part of the Report on the SFZC's Early Tassajara Alumni Reunion posted three days ago and think it merits this plug - and not just because yours truly is in it. Quite the opposite - I cringe to see myself thus reflected - it may be time for more diet and exercise on my part. Now I must make a note to get the outtakes from that video for the archives.  - Good work Timothy O'Conner Fraser and the rest credited in the video. Incidentally, in the image above, from right to left that's Peter Overton, Susan Burns Overton, and yours truly dc. - A tiny error - I make a mistake in talking to them when I say we were dropped off at the beginning of the national forest - it was way before that. - dc

And since we're featuring items from the past few days, don't miss The Invention of the Letter: A Beastly Morality by Philip Whalen on Steve Silberman's site. for all to read which is okay since it was printed and handed out for free to begin with and has something printed on it which indicates that - what's that called again, Steve? Answer - "hors de commerce" which also applies to this site. - dc

And here's more about the new journal Zen Monster from old friend Brian Unger which begins: Zen Monster is a literary journal for poetry, fiction, essays, art work, calligraphy and "subversive political commentary"

These last two items in the new Writing department of cuke-The-arts

5-04-08 - A Report on yesterday's Celebration of Philip Whalen at the SF Public Library with lots of links and stuff.

5-03-08 - Free-floating Mainstream Madness. Thinking about Steve Tipton's new book - see 5-01-03 below - and reflecting on the confused state of awareness in our country these days, I get carried away with another pinched image short, this one political.- dc

5-02-08 - A Report on the SFZC's Early Tassajara Alumni Reunion. This is a link to the SFZC website. It was sent to a SFZC email list which should include all the Tassajara practice period alumni (1st 25 years - 67-92) whom we were in contact with. If you wish to be included on that email list and were not, please send me an email and I'll get you on it. <dchad@cuke.com>. Here's the link to that event on this site. - dc

5-01-08 - Steve Tipton has a new book out: Public Pulpits: Methodists and Mainline Churches in the Moral Argument of Public Life. U of Chicago Press. This book focuses on what mainstream Christianity has to say about the war in Iraq and the recent gov. faith based initiatives - rather than the Christian right that TV news likes. Steve was a student of Shunryu Suzuki who went on to become a leading writer on sociology and religion. He's also a long-time supporter of cuke.com, the Cucumber Project and the new Shunryu Suzuki Legacy Project (name in flux). -dc

Go to Steve Tipton books for much more on this book and others by Steve.

April

4-30-08 - Brad Warner of Hardcore Zen fame interviews Nina Hartley for Suicide Girls. Here's Nina's website. Those who were around the SFZC and Berkeley ZC twenty five years ago or more might remember her as a funny, bright, cute pig-tailed kid with horn-rimmed glasses with a pre-stage name. - thanks Lor - filed in Other interviews

In CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism

Cenk Uygur is a bright and humorous commentator on today's political scene. Here he reframes the debate on patriotism.

From Truthout --- Bomb Bomb Iran by summer's end? - thanks Taigen added to the Iran attack department.

4-29-08 An Anonymous brief memory of Shunryu Suzuki, sent by Jane Hirshfield

Another photo - this time it's Gary Snyder with son Kai or Gen, probably Kai because he was first. Thanks to Barbara Wenger for these three photos.

Click thumbnail to enlarge.

photo by Thomas (Tim) Buckley who confirms it is Kai - from San Francisco, 1968-69

4-28-08 - Here's a classic photo of Alan Watts.

Click thumbnail to enlarge.

Am super busy right now working on a report on the state of the Shunryu Suzuki lecture archive - a task in the newly created Shunryu Suzuki Legacy Project (name in flux) that there will be more on later - to inform and to ask for seed money - and so might not have much time for cuke. But I can throw up something quick like Alan in his study. And like with So-en below, I'll try to get back to them and put in a bunch of links and excerpts from Crooked Cucumber and so forth. Later meditator. - dc

4-27- 08 - Was just sent this photo today by someone who asked who is it? It's Soen Nakagawa Roshi who was abbot of Ryutakuji - during a visit to Tassajara. More on him later. Photo taken by Thomas (Tim) Buckley at Tassajara

4-26-08 - Help Needed for Tassajara’s Summer Guest Season - check it out. To me it is pure heaven to be a student at Tassajara. Katrinka, Clay, and I go there for ten days every summer to work, sit, enjoy the woods and baths and be with the great folk there. People seem to consistently be on their best behavior in Tassajara. - dc

4-25-08 - Two photos from Tassajara from Gene DeSmidt on his own page on cuke.

“When I look inside and see that I am Nothing, that is Wisdom. When I look outside and see that I am Everything, that is Love. And between these two, my whole life turns.”---Nisargadatta - thanks to John Steiner

Which plastics are safe? - thanks to Kelly Chadwick

4-24-08 - Seeking fungi inspired poems for a book- length anthology

4-22-08 - Happy Earth Day!

Part Two of a visit with Huston Smith - the man who reached for truth.

4-21-08 - Read For Your Benefit by Ross Bolleter and see the update on what's happening with his great music.

4-20-08 - End the war on people called the war on drugs, stop our addiction to filling our jails and prisons this way - bring on harm reduction and sanity.

Today we start a new Harm Reduction Page with lots of good links and feature Drug War Facts - marijuana because it's 4-20, to come to the defense of those who are persecuted for smoking pot (which, incidentally, I haven't done at all for years).

What was Shunryu Suzuki's policy on drugs and alcohol? See today's dchad misc

4-19-08 - Happy 17th birthday Clay! Clay on drums and DC family.

4-18-09 - A lecture by Shunryu Suzuki  on the Ryaku Fusatsu - lightly edited for your reading pleasure and with the verbatim version handy for reference.

What is the Ryaku Fusatsu by Nonin Chowaney

4-17-08 -
From Bulgaria to Bobo-Dioulasso…
a Sunday afternoon concert of acoustic music from Eastern Europe and West Africa , with
ZORA and KURU KUNA
Sunday, APRIL 20at 4 p.m.
Sebastopol Center for the Arts
6780 Depot St, Sebastopol
(707) 829-4797
$12 general, $10 seniors/students, kids under 12 free (bring a pillow). ABOUT THE GROUPS

See the PDF Flier with photos of them

4-16-08 -

Kyoto Art and Antiques is having an open warehouse sale in Seattle, May 1-11. See the PDF flier for this auspicious event. Even if you don't want to buy anything, just go by and say hi to the charming proprietors who are old friends of mine. Also, their wares are superlative. Tell 'em cuke sent you. - dc

4-15-08 - Part One of a visit with Huston Smith

4-14-08 - Who Hijacked the Justice Department to Swing Elections? Filed in the CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism section's department on Election Fraud.

4-13-08 - Are We Ready For a Minority Report Made Real? - more on this later. Also in CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism.

4-12-08 - a clarifying exchange between Charlie and DC about the Flop Room story in yesterday's post.

4-11-08 - Brief Memories of Shunryu Suzuki from Charles Guilford

4-10-08 - National Religious Campaign Against Torture has a new Banners Across America Campaign.

The Torture Drawings the Pentagon Doesn't Want You to See

A Torture Debate Among Healers by Amy Goodman

A conversation with the director of new documentary on torture, Taxi to the Dark Side

4-09-08 - Nothing posted today because Clay and some of his fellow students and I went to SF to see the torch go by which we didn't see and which we didn't think we were going to see because we already knew the route was being changed but we did have a great time watching pro Tibet protesters chanting "Free Tibet!" in the face of pro China protesters chanting "One China!" in their faces and people arguing but all in a rather civilized tone. I thought that the plight of persecuted Tibetans in China was not going to be addressed this way but I just watched.

4-08-08 - Al Gore: New thinking on the climate crisis

And happy birthday Buddha from Japanese Buddhists and their descendents.

When I first came to the SFZC back in '66, Daniel  was still around. He had a shaved head (the first to do so) was one of the fascinating characters around that scene. Through the years I'd hear about him. Reuven Benyuhmin's interview starts off with telling how Daniel sent him to study with Suzuki. Here's his website's bio page - from there one can explore.

Just got this email from Daniel

Hello brother David,
Here is link for inspiration
with love in Christ
brother egg

And do check out that inspirational link. - dc

4-07-08 - Yesterday I got an email asking about Shunryu Suzuki and his habit of buying the worst vegetables. Here's that email, my response, a response to the response, and a response to that. - dc

I'm excited to announce a first photography show, entitled FIRST VISION - Nature Photography by David Silva. This show consists of 11 color images from Patagonia, New Zealand, Oregon and California.

Location: SF Scone Works, 814 Eddy (between Van Ness and Franklin), San Francisco.
March 26 - June 30.
7AM - 2PM, Monday - Friday

Please join me at the opening reception - April 10th, 5:30 - 8 PM. RSVPs would be helpful.

4-06-08 - View the BPF (Buddhist Peace Fellowship) page on Tibet and statements on Tibet, Burma, and Darfur.

The Dhamma Brothers (from Freedom Behind Bars Producutions) - thanks to dharma bro Ron Browning

4-05-08 - RIP Daniel Owsley Ray.

Say no to a new generation of nuclear weapons.

4-04-08 - Martin Luther King Is Still Silenced - In his last year of life King condemned American militarism and was taunted not by racist whites but by the MSM (mainstream media). But we don't see that in retrospectives. - in AlterNet

Elephant painting is incredible but real. - thanks Mary Cunov

4-03-08 - Yvonne Rand Main Page with links to her cuke interview and more.

4-02-08 - A new item for the cuke ArtArt department - the art of Karen Hamilton - wonderful collage paintings and landscapes.

During April she will be showing 50 small pieces at the 20th St. Gallery in Sacramento.

Karen practices at the Iron Bell Zendo in Sacramento. Adding that to Buddhist groups and teachers in Shunryu Suzuki's Lineage or closely related.

4-01-08 - Finally, the great problem is solved!

Who's this with Mitsu Suzuki? Send answer to dchad@cuke.com. Click thumbnail to enlarge.

March

3-31-08 - Check out Goat-in-the-Road, Yvonne Rand resident teacher. Note the link to writings. Yvonne was a close student of Shunryu Suzuki's as well as a secretary, advisor, and caretaker. Yvonne teaches in the San Francisco Bay Area and lives in Mendocino Country. More on Yvonne soon.

Hey – join us for the Saint Stupid’s Day celebration in SF April 1^st. Starts at noon at Justin Herman Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco. Here's the lowdown from the Saint Stupid Website including info on party afterwards. See prior Saint Stupid posts on cuke.com.

3-30-08 - Hear a talk given by Yvonne Rand - on Audio Dharma dot org

3-29-08 - In 1968 Shunryu Suzuki gave two talks at Esalen Institute. These talks are available through Big Sur Tapes. For more on Shunryu Suzuki audio tapes see the new Shunryu audio dept.

Also, just noticed that the SFZC Bookstore has a Shunryu Suzuki video for sale. For more on this go there or to the Shunryu video dept

More to do on this for sure to make this more clear and to help the frustrated seeker find. - dc sitting in the lodge at Sierra at Tahoe while Clay and friend Michael snow board the slopes

3-28-08 - Kathy Cook sends A Tassajara Story involving a late night return with DC's memory of the event.

Also from Kathy - A Green Gulch experience involving pottery and power.

A news item I find interesting because I was affected by so many older Japanese telling me their experiences and thoughts about WWII, memories many would deny. Sort of like in the US. - dc

3-27-08 - Meditative Peace Walk Across the Golden Gate Bridge in support of the monks in Burma - Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Kathy Cook writes Incantation for People Tending the Watershed - in Others

3-26-08 - Andrew Main writes on the current issue concerning China and Tibet.

Another offer to buy cuke.com!

3-25-08 - Oops, linked to the wrong Robert Adams site yesterday. That's the one he specifically doesn't recommend. Here are the suggested ones and Andrew Main's note on Adams.

Gasshoing Zen dog - thanks Katrinka, Carolyn, Huff Post

Free Countries Must Defy Chinese Blackmail and Greet the Dalai Lama - By Timothy Garton Ash

3-24-08 - Comment on the Current Tibetan/Chinese Conflict - Excerpted from Gelek Rimpoche’s Sunday Talk, March 16, 2008 - thanks Howie - in  CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism

Robert Adams - an Advaita teacher - check out Robert Adams Infinity Institute - thanks Andrew - in links this was a mistake, not the site Andrew intended. See tomorrow's post on it.

3-24-08 - Lane Olson has an article on Mayumi Oda in Persimmontree, an online literary magazine by women over sixty. No Lane - you can't be over sixty! - dc. You're supposed to sign up to get in and here's the link to Lane's article called The Artistry of Mayumi Oda. And here's Mayumi's site. - filed in ArtArt.

3-23-08 - Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight - thanks Jack, Barrie, Marlene

3-22-08 - The Dangerous Atheism of Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris By Chris Hedges, Free Press.  - this is a link to the article on AlterNet.  Also you can read on in Dchad Misc to see my ruminations on this matter - somewhat off from what this article says.

3-21-08 - Some items for CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism

Petition to end violence in Tibet - thanks to a few of you.

An additional request concerning the violence in Tibet from Barrie Mason

A request concerning the violence in Israel  from Emila Palmers at Green Gulch Farm - My son, Eric and three grandchildren live in Sderot, the border town to Gaza which gets all the rockets. He and a Palestinian friend from Gaza have a website. Please look at it.  They write about their daily life in the war zone. They are circulating a petition they initiated and I am trying to get as many people to sign it. Please sign it on their blog, or go directly to the petition site[LINK NO MORE].

3-20-08 - Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early-(added to election fraud)  thanks Lane Olson

3-19-08 - David Schneider at the Sonoma Shambhala Center this weekend - just hit that link and scroll down to the second and third items. On the 22nd there's Collect Your Life, A one-day Shambhala Art workshop on Saturday and, on Sunday the 23rd,  a talk: ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE BODHICITA.

Belief Net is a great site both in terms of size and value. For the orthodox cukester they have their Buddhism wing, but there's lots more like fer instance, a Zoroastrianism section. I'd suggest the Founding Fathers Faith Archive. Just heard Beliefnet co-founder Stephen Waldman interviewed on NPR about his new book, Founding Faith - most interesting and timely.

Washington Monthly - No More, No Torture, No Exceptions includes links to many other statements on torture. In CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism

3-18-08 - Check out the art of Patrick McFarlin, an old Zen friend from back in the sixties. [filed in Art-Art] I've got a painting of his up above the bed - his version of Dogen's self-portrait. I've also got an interview from 1993 in Santa Fe, NM, with him and his wife, Deborah Madison of cookbook fame in here somewhere that I'll be working on to get on cuke. She and I were at Tassajara together way back then as well. And she was the chef at Greens at the first when I was the host. More later. - dc

3-17-08 - Well-being ceremony for Darlene Cohen at the BPZ near Occidental. And here's the Well-being service itself. -   Darlene Cohen on cuke and links beyond.

I think of Santhara when I read sad news like this.

Statement of Senator Barack Obama on the situation in Tibet - Chicago, IL | March 14, 2008

Greg Palast on the Spritzer mess - allways good to get the big story behind the little ones. See prior bit on this.

3-16-08 - Too much to say so instead, Suggested sites in the CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism realm.

3-15-07 - Celebrating the release of The Collected Poems of Philip Whalen - Reed College, March 29th - thanks, Howie Klein

Don't forget the Nonesuch School Auction - see ad just below.

3-14-08 - A message from Brother Lor on Opray's Eckhart Tolle classes.

Meanwhile I'll be on a corner in downtown Sebastopol holding up a sign I just made advertising the event noted on the flier (click on image to enlarge) - Friday 7 to 9 A.M. & 4 to 6 P.M. and Saturday morning again. Read more - nothing much.

3-13-08 - Spitzer & America's Perverse Ethics by Rabbi Michael Lerner known for Tikkun Magazine. Check out Tikkun dot org. He's also a co-founder of The Network of Spiritual Progressives. Anyway, this brief article by him on the recent Eliot Spritzer scandal states my thoughts more eloquently than I did to Clay last night when I said that if Spritzer had just supported corporate pilfering, mass murder, and mayhem he'd not be in trouble. Our leaders with our permission through war and pollution born of individual and corporate greed are causing millions to die, millions more to suffer disease and homelessness, brutalizing and torturing many more - the most extreme stuff on and on. We barely pay attention. But if they get caught kissing and hugging the wrong person then they must be banished! Clay said I was guilty of hyperbole. "How so?" I asked. "They do more than kiss and hug," he said. -dc - (thanks Gregory) filed in CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism

3-13-08 - Where does this come from? It's one of those emails I get that's not attributed to any definite source and after a quick Google search find it posted in the same non-attributed way - but no matter - it's funny as heck writing and a quick read - claims to be the 25 funniest analogies collected by high school English teachers. And there's no time for anything else anyway. Made me laugh. - dc

3-12-08 - A nameless protagonist tries to convey the wonder of Silence - another Pinched Image Short

3-11-08 - Daya Goldschlag sent a story she'd not had time to tell at the Early Tassajara Alumni Reunion final get-together at Greens on January 26th. It's about how our son Kelly, now 34, almost died not long after he was born and how he lived because we lived at Green Gulch. I answered her with what I remembered and she answered back. Here's the story again - Kelly Lives!. Filed in Family. See Daya's cuke interview and photos.

3-10-08 - Photos by Diane Dalenberg of the reception following Ananda's funeral. Captions to come. See Ananda Page.

Photo of Mark Petchey with some friends at his 25th birthday party. Filed on the Mark Petchey page.

3-09-08 - This new SFZC book is doing very well on Amazon.com.   Bantam's link. SFZC link with upcoming events. Wendy has been on it for something like ten years. It's  beautiful, worth the wait. Order from SFZC Bookstore. Here's its cuke page.

3-08-08 - a message from Jana Drakka:

Dear Friends, I’m writing to share some exciting news. I’m moving my homeless ministry from San Francisco Zen Center out into the Tenderloin. Here is my new business card with contact numbers. Please visit my web-site at www.janadrakka.com 

I now take care of the Faithful  Fools Tenderloin Street Zendo.  Please come and sit with me there – everyone is welcome. Let’s stay in touch, Jana

filed in CukeSanghaNews

see Jana's cuke page for more on her and her work

3-07-08 - No time to put anything up today because there's so much to do for the Nonesuch School Auction in Sebastopol March 15th. If you're in the area please come for the great music, great food, great auction, great company - click on the thumbnail to see the flyer. And if you've got anything to offer for the auction (thanks Jack Elias) please email me.

Other than that....

3-06-08 - Ron Browning sends (with much Metta) this YouTube link to a wonderful chanting of the Metta Sutta with English subtitles.

3-04-08 - Danny Chesluk remembers Shunryu Suzuki.

3-03-08 - See the watercolors of Michael Sawyer. The first item in the new art-art section of cuke.

Michael is under hospice care now at Green Gulch Farm. An article by Zenshin Florence Caplow is planned for the May issue of Tricycle.

Here's an art question.

3-01-08 - Peace march, anti-nuclear weapons march, held in Yaizu, Japan, where Shunryu Suzuki's temple is. As this article points out, Yaizu was the port for the ill-fated Fukuryu (Lucky Dragon) which got caught in heavy fallout from the largest US hydrogen bomb test at the Bikini atoll. I remember a disturbing article about it in the Reader's Digest when I was a kid. Shunryu Suzuki joined in on a protest march afterwards. Read an excerpt about this from Crooked Cucumber. - thanks DW

Bluestone Gallery opens in Denver on Friday March 7th. Good luck, Susan. - dc

hit thumbnail to enlarge

February

2-29-08 - The Role and Significance of Korean Son in the Study of East Asian Buddhism by Lew Lancaster

2-28-08 - 1996 cuke interview with Dr. Lew Lancaster

2-27-08 - Met at a San Rafael coffee shop recently with Dr. Lew Lancaster who for decades was with and head of East Asian Studies (or something like that) at UC Berkeley, who knew Shunryu Suzuki who joined him for some class events, and who has been doing some highly impressive work in Buddhist archiving for quite some time. Check out Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative. That's him in the image to the bottom left. Lew was president of the University of the West for a few years. Here's a bit about him on their website. (more on Lew later)

Nonesuch School Auction - gotta go out and get items for Clay's School auction to be held March 15th in Sebastopol. Got anything you'd like to offer to help this worthy cause? Just email me, DC, and I'll be most grateful. I've already got some hotels, spa, restaurants, coffee shops, goat cheese dairy, wine, a watch, and am going for more. Wish me luck. Better yet, donate an item or service. - dc

2-26-08 - Buddha's First Sutra - not the version read at Ananda's funeral but some others.

2-25-08 - Check out Urban Dharma and Kusala Bhikshu

2-23-08 - Photos of Ananda Claude Dalenberg and family, by or from his daughter Diane - Picassa link. No captions yet.

More comments from emails about Ananda including one from Philip Whalen.

2-22-08 - Chicago service for Ananda on Monday at Ancient Dragon Zen Gate. See details.

Ross Bolleter is a Zen teacher and musician who lives in Perth Australia. He's also the latest addition to the cuke music page.

2-22-08 - Chicago service for Ananda on Monday at Ancient Dragon Zen Gate. See details.

Photos of Ananda by Diane Dalenberg coming tomorrow.

2-21-08 - There will be a ceremony commemorating Ananda Claude Dalenberg's life today at 4:15 p.m. at the Zen Center, 300 Page St., SF.  

Program for Ceremony

Bio Notes handed out at Ceremony

There will be a reception afterwards in the Zen Hospice across and down the street at 273 Page Street.

Daihishin for Ananda from Gary Snyder

Adios, Ah Budos, Ananda by Dan Welch

Ananda's Wondrous Two-footed Capability - by Brit Pyland

See new Ananda Hub Page.

Go to Ananda update page to read obituary in the SF Chronicle or read it online.

Tomorrow - Diane Dalenberg's photos

2-20-08 - There will be a ceremony commemorating Ananda Claude Dalenberg's life on Thursday, Feb. 21st, 4:15 p.m. at the Zen Center, 300 Page St., SF.  Note it says 4:15 instead of 4pm. Bells will begin at 4:15, ceremony at 4:30.

There will be a reception afterwards in the Zen Hospice across and down the street at 273 Page Street.

Go to Ananda update page to read obituary in the SF Chronicle or read it online.

2-19-08 - There will be a funeral service for Ananda Claude Dalenberg on Thursday, February 21st, at 4pm at the San Francisco Zen Center's City Center at 300 Page Street in the Buddha Hall. There will be a reception afterwards in the Zen Hospice across and down the street at 273 Page Street. More on Ananda update page.

2-18-08 - Ananda Dalenberg died this morning. I learned as I was writing a note to Gary Snyder.

2-17-08 - Update on Ananda - with family and dharma friends.

Revisiting Andrew Main's correspondence on Ananda and the Pali Refuges.

2-16-08 - Update on Ananda - visits, refuges, and Jodo Shinshu.

2-15-08 - Update on Ananda - in the hospice.

2-15-08 - Update on Ananda

2-14-08 - Update on Ananda

2-13-08 - Update on Ananda. And thanks to Andrew Main for pointing out his Dharma Bums name was Bud Diefendorf. - dc

2-12-07 - See important update on Ananda Claude Dalenberg in Zen Aluminati (photo by Diane Dalenberg)

read new brief bio on Ananda at the top of his 1994 cuke interview

Read “Parting with Claude Dalenberg” by Gary Snyder

The Folly of Attacking Iran - from Just Foreign Policy dot org
See their brief and informative video on the folly of attacking Iran  - filed on the Iran Attack Page

2-11-08 - Rummaging through emails in the Eudora putoncuke folder just found and added Taisan (Larry) Sheridan's  biographical note he wrote when he sent his Tassajara Journal last July. Makes his entry more complete. Check it out. And any of you folks from the Suzuki days - eager to get your journals, diaries, photos, whatever in the archive. - dc

2-10-08 - Adida Archives - a critical look at Adi Da. They've just added DC's A Taste of Persimmon to their archive.

Global Warming: Nine Things that Will Put us Over the Edge

2-09-08 - Dennis White with a couple of memories of Shunryu Suzuki, like one on not trying to be perfect. - in Brief Memories.

63 years ago today in Fort Worth, Texas, in Harris Hospital, my dear mother gave birth to me and for that I am most grateful. And out of that gratitude various thoughts arise.

Like today also makes three years since I've taken a puff off a joint. No big deal. Today I'm an even more potentially useful supporter of MPP and advocate for an end to the confused and cruel persecution of pot smokers and dealers - among persecutions I oppose.

Anyone wishing to make a belated birthday donation, I'm eager to replace my laptop whose motherboard suddenly died yesterday. Gone beyond. See how to donate.

 [DC continues this birthday ramble in dchad misc]

2-08-08 - Check out Zen & the Creative Life Workshop coming up this March 1st and 2nd at the Santa Rosa Creek Zendo (CA).

hit above link or the image to the left to learn more.

See the PDF flier

A World Without Armies
Report on the international conference
“Remembering Nanjing (Nanking)”
70th anniversary of the Nanjing Tragedy
See the PDF of the report with photos
Read more
thanks Kaz Tanahashi, a participant, for alerting cuke of this
in CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism

2-07-08 - Click on this thumbnail to see the order form for the CD of Barbara Wenger's slide slow with 650  photos of Tassajara Alumni or try the PDF file - in CukeSanghaNews

2-06-08 - Zen and the Art of Poetry: An Interview with Jane Hirshfield. - filed under Others

Congratulations to Timothy O'Connor Fraser who writes, "I am overjoyed, and it's an honor to introduce you to my son: Colin Searc ("Shark") O'Connor. Here's our blog:" - CukeSanghaNews

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi died on Tuesday in his Dutch home at the age of 91. RIP (thanks GdSmdt)

The Tenacity of American Militarism
What Progressives and Other Critics Don't Get about the U.S. Military By William J. Astore -
filed under CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism

2-05-08 - Wake Up Now: A Guide to the Journey of Spiritual Awakening (McGraw-Hill, 2008).

by Stephan Bodian - his website

featuring a blurb by dc:

Remove the Seeker, Remove the Sought - article herein by Bodian on Zen Advaita  - with a bit of bio.

Two recent letters from Eric Arnow - The Falling Dollar and An IRS Audit as Spiritual Practice

National Popular Vote - States join forces against electoral college: A piecemeal approach may be the only way to kill the anachronistic institution - Los Angeles Times Editorial.- from last June but appropriate for this election day. Thanks to MK - dc

filed in CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism

2-04-08 - Decided not to do a report on the Early Tassajara Alumni Reunion. Others can if they want. SFZC will have something soon on in their news section I'm sure and I'll post then. - dc

Audrey Robinson (Walter) on son Eliot's blowout encounter with Shunryu Suzuki.

2-03-08 - Independent observer Mark Foote writes of Shunryu Suzuki and the Zen of ordinary activity on his website, Zen Mudra.

Two recent articles sent by Taigen:

The Gulag Comes To The USA: A Political Prisoner: The Don Siegelman Case By Ernest Partridge

2-02-08 - DVDs are now available of "A ZEN LIFE - D.T.  Suzuki," a 77-minute documentary about Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki (1870-1966). Read more about it and how to get the DVD in the new cuke Film Section

Dharma Songs by Ben Gustin were in the cuke Music Section but later on Shores of Zen site better quality.

2-01-08 - YouTube video of Shunryu Suzuki giving a talk on the San Do Kai at Tassajara in 1970. Read more - like some (but not all) about the how it was produced at the SFZC here and see other places where this film can be accessed. Same thing that was on here before.

Were Shunryu and Mitsu Suzuki citizens?

You may wish to sit online at the Treeleaf Zendo and read the Treeleaf Blog.

Miscellaneous - In case of emergency list the people you want contacted under ICE in your cell phone.

January

1-31-08 - Cuke Development Index - Thinking a lot about this cause there's so much I want to do that's not revenue producing at the moment. Take a look.

1-30-08 - Tom Cabarga on how Cabarga Creek got it's name. In Comments.

1-29-08 - recuperating from the reunion. Must put up report, get new blog software so people can comment, raise money to do so much here and with Suzuki archiving and stories and all. Time to upgrade. Am cogitating. More soon. - DC

1-28-08 - Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

1-25-08 - Off to the Early Tassajara Alumni Reunion at the City Center, Green Gulch, and Tassajara (see SFZC) - be back Monday. Will take laptop and might have a thing or two to add, but in case I'm too busy yapping with old buds, here are a few extra items to chew on till we meet again. - DC

Interviews with Peter and Jane Schneider

which includes a list of Suzuki disciples - those ordained by him as priests - starting with what practice periods at Tassajara they were shuso.

Back in 66 or so, Fred Stoeber thought he should ask Suzuki a question.

A new poem from Barton Stone - It Happened Again!

Full Moon Poetry from Katrinka McKay

Ron Browning sends, What is eaten in a week around the world.

Errata in Crooked Cucumber and all over this web site. Just learned from JJ Wilson that "The spelling of Phillip’s name is with two ll – it was a family name." Must run off to fix that. I'll start with Phillip Wilson Main Page - and must rename some files too. Also misspelled Virginia Woolf in her interview.

Barbara Horn sends alumni greetings

Last minute addition to early Tassajara alumni list before leaving for city - color-coding Idilio Ceniceros as deceased and adding his names to the Memorial Index.

1-24-08 - Jeanie Stearns on her early ZC memories (minor correction made 1-25)

Thanks to dear old friend Willem Malten, proprietor of Cloud Cliff Bakery-Cafe-Artspace  in Santa Fe for this link to a video of poetry by Stephen Levine - on YouTube with more Levine videos there if you wish.

Sigh of Relief Department: Got a perfect storage space for the cuke archive and files (and music tapes and more) - . Read more on this and why you should use this storage facility if you live near here.

1-23-08 - Tony Artino's brief Shunryu Suzuki Lecture Notes from 1967.

In the Music Department, remembering Tosca's Suzuki, a CD of the Austrian group dedicated to Shunryu Suzuki.

James Carroll on the nonsense and danger of the term Islamo-fascism - CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism.  - thanks Gregory

Oliver Sacks observes the mind through music - in misc. - thanks JR.

1-22-08 - Working on my image files and what's available from here on Picasa, uploaded these photos of Issan Tommy Dorsey received from Katrinka via Ken Ireland via Del Carlson. Take a look at Issan past and present. - DC

Where is the Love? - music two days in a row demands a new section, Music.

1-21-08 - Lew Richmond releases new music CD, Songs of Lazarus. See more on Lew Richmond - interview, links.

1-20-08 - A new Shunryu on Shunryu section. Read Peter Schneider's 1969 interviews  with Shunryu Suzuki and a lecture Suzuki gave the evening of the first one -  verbatim or lightly edited. A vastly improved, more complete presentation over just presenting the edited composite interviews divided into US and Japan - but they are also included.

1-19 -08 - Check out the SCBA website (Soto Zen Buddhist Association of North America).

1-18-07 - A lecture by Shunryu Suzuki - lightly edited for your reading pleasure and with the verbatim version handy for reference.

National Religious Campaign Against Torture - Sign the Statement of Conscience, check on pending legislation in the News About Torture and What You Can Do About It box.

See Countdown: Torturers Like Us

1-17-08 - Reading in SFZC's news about dear friend Idilio's cremation - and discovered Celeste West, City Center librarian for so long, had passed as well. Become Buddhas dear friends.

As Idilio's body was burning, I was pleased to meet Brad Warner.

Sit Down and Shut Up

 Hardcore Zen

 -  Brad's blog and here's yesterday's entry with cuke comment

life goes on, death goes on

1-16-07 - A terrific Suzuki Story from Beverly Armstrong (Horowitz) in Brief Memories.

Arnie Kotler's Koa Books strikes again with:

Oakland • Santa Rosa • Santa Cruz • Berkeley
January 17 - 21, 2008 - SCHEDULE-times

Colonel (Ret.) Ann Wright -- Joined by Daniel Ellsberg in Oakland and Berkeley --
Will Read from her new book,
Dissent: Voices of Conscience - read more about it on the Koa Books web site.

1-15-07 - A note on backing up the files here and protecting the cuke archives which was just written to a friend who'd lost a bunch of stuff he wanted - in the Development section.

1-14-07 - Interview with Lew Richmond, founder of  The Vimala Sangha. His personal site is  Lewis Richmond dot com.  Check out Books by Lew Richmond  especially Zen Basics.

1-13-07 - Communicating with a hospice educator and web site techie who's offered to help improve the look and usability of cuke.com. See what he suggests and also read about his frustrating experience at a sesshin at the SFZC and a not frustrating experience at a sesshin in Minneapolis.

More on THE CONSPIRACY WORTH PAYING ATTENTION TO in the Election Fraud section of CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism

1-12-08 - cuke.com GOALS for 2008   with a special addendum of items about which to lobby the SFZC.

Books by Dainin Katagiri -  compilations of his lectures

1-11-08 - Burma Witness: Journey to a Land Cloaked in Fear by Hozan Alan Senauke - sent in by Taigen Dan Leighton. Found links to it in Atrocity News, Urban Travelers, Russian Girls CQ (really), Berkeley Zen Center for a PDF, among others.

1-10-08 - There will be a cremation ceremony for our dear friend Idilio Ceniceros, Mexican gambler to Zen practitioner, on Thursday Jan 10, 11:30 am at Pacific Interment. The address is 1094 Yerba Buena Ave, Emeryville, CA. Link to directions.

1-09-08 - Tony Artino's brief Suzuki Lecture Notes - first lecture - now it's all of them together (1-23).

1-08-08 - On Phillip Wilson by DC

Early Tassajara Alumni Reunion note of import.

1-07-08 - Correspondence between Jeanie Stearns and DC mainly concerning Phillip Wilson.

1-06-08 - Interview with JJ Wilson

Phillip Wilson Main Page

Compare ZMBM chapter called Repetition with original transcript

1-05-08 - Storm blew out online connection so
a poem

1-04-08 - Oneill Louchard's Home-cabin featuring the handiwork of Niels and Silas Holm.

1-03-08 - Memories of Phillip Wilson as found in cuke interviews and some other sources. In the course of this I discovered so much work that needs to be done in these archives. Mercy. - DC

1-02-08 - DC interview with Phillip Wilson, early disciple of Shunryu Suzuki.

1-01-08 - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

What will be the big CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism story for 2008?  Cuke considers creeping fascism, election fraud, and global warming.

What Was New from 1999 to this year index

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How to donate to this site and the work DC does