Cuke 2020 Goals

Cuke 2020 Presentation

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Cuke Archives News December 2020

Tassajara 1967-68 — Tassajara 1967 - L to R - Phillip Wilson, Shunryu and Mitsu Suzuki, ?, David Chadwick, Richard Baker *

Goals

Goals accomplished

In the 2012 fundraising letter, I wrote that I planned to wrap this work up in three years' time. That sure didn't happen. We got the essence of what was promised done though—and a great deal more. But the goal is still to get Cuke Archives into as complete and useful shape as possible while figuring out how to pass it on, keep it preserved and available.

One goal I mentioned in that appeal, another book of vignettes about Shunryu Suzuki, will be released by Shambhala Publications next year on the 50th anniversary of his death. Other major projects completed since then that are covered in the Overview are:

A Japanese translation of Crooked Cucumber
The Offline Digital Archive
The creation of Cuke Press (LLC)
A Brief History of Tassajara: from Native American Sweat Lodges to Pioneering Zen Monastery
Greatly improved and further developed Cuke Archives' online presence
Improved digitization of audio - elaborated on below

We did the first digitizing of the complete Suzuki lecture audio (and video) back in 2008 and covered costs for the higher quality digitizing done in recent years by Charlie Wilson at his Sonic Zen Records in Berkeley. That work is also reflected on the SFZC's new Suzuki Roshi Audio Archive on their impressive new Engage Wisdom site. Peter Ford, my associate at Cuke, shared Cuke Archives' detailed database info with Charlie and transcribed the entries not already in the archive from a set of tapes recently found at the City Center. We also sponsored Charlie's digitizing of about 600 of Zentatsu Richard Baker's lecture tapes and began the process of transcribing them.

Present Goals

Writing - I've been working for five years on a book called Tassajara Stories. The main goal for this year is to finish it. There are many other publishing plans, some with a good deal of material already, but let's get this one done first.

There could be some income from new books, but unless something unusual happens, the time that goes into publishing will continue to be largely pro bono. To complete Tassajara Stories and publishing projects to follow, outside support will be necessary.

Podcasts – Not just the books, but a good deal of the material in Cuke Archives could be made available as audio. This year I plan to start off by reading Crooked Cucumber with added commentary and see where that leads. Quality studio time with an engineer here in Bali costs a small fraction of what it would in the States.

Note April 9, 2020 - Podcasts are happening. See Cuke Audio Podcast.

We have a long term aim to see materials from Cuke Archives in print on acid free paper with copies for the libraries and archives of groups in the Suzuki lineage and other worthy institutions. It's not wise to depend on digital alone.

Online Presence - Continue simplifying and clarifying the navigation, improving the ease of use, of cuke.com and shunryusuzuki.com.

Work on the Suzuki lecture transcripts continues as always, fixing errata, creating light edits for readability. All but twenty-three of the verbatim transcripts now give you an edited option. Daily lecture excerpts posted on Cuke What's New Blog can also be received in an email.

Each person in this 1962 photo played an important role in the earliest days of the Zen Center. There's a good deal from and about them in Cuke. Among them, only Bill Kwong is alive today.*

DONATE

The time of those who were around in the early days of Zen Center is winding down. Please help us in our effort to preserve and make available as good and complete a record of this passing era as we can.

More than ever, Cuke Archives needs financial support in order to continue.

To help us keep going, go to the Donation page to make a tax-deductible contribution of any size via PayPal or check. There is also a PayPal option to become a subscriber and make an automatic monthly donation. We still have a few from the 2012 appeal that range from $2 a month up.

A gift for a gift - For a donation of $100 or more, we'll send you a copy of A Brief History of Tassajara: from Native American Sweat Lodges to Pioneering Zen Monastery, a $20 value.