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What Was New in 2010
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What Was New 1999 to now Index



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From the home page What's new for this year 2011 goes here.



December


12-28-10 - Check out Stephen Colgan's Buddhism-in-SF articles at the SF Examiner's website. Good going Stephen.


12-27-10 - Father Steve Frost has new writing, poetry and prose, on his web sites, mainly <http://ecai.org/NEPSIS/> but also http://www.nepsis.com/. But the sites are dominated by his wonderful art.


Portugal's Drug Policy Pays Off


12-19-10 - Wolf Büntig with a brief memory of Shunryu Suzuki concerning "friendly attention."


Last minute shopping? Do that and help cuke.com - how about giving one or more of DC's books (we especially suggest the often overlooked Zen Is Right Here) or some of the Buddhism, the religion that promises nothing... and delivers tee shirts and other items in the Buddhism and Nothings section of the Cafe Press's Cuke Basket. There's still time to get it there. - With love and wishes, DC


12-18-10 - Added more material to Jerome Peterson interview like a link to SFZC's page for him, mentions of Jerome in cuke.com archives.


Farewell Don Van Vliet, Captain Beefheart - site for his music

Van Vliet art

Rolling Stone obit

DC song for him (1st verse) - The Madman Minstrels Hall of Fame


12-12-10 - Farewell to Jerome Peterson, early Shunryu Suzuki student who died of a heart attack today at the SFZC's City Center. He was 82 and started sitting at Sokoji in the fall of 1962.

Read cuke interview with Jerome.


12-11-10 - The Bodhisattva's Embrace: Dispatches from Engaged Buddhism's Front Lines? by Alan Senauke, vice abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center

Alan says: This is a collection of essays I've been writing over the last fifteen years — along with 16 photographs — reporting and meditating on state of the world and our responsibility to it. I am excited to have it out at last and to have established a new imprint — Clear View Press — to make other engaged Buddhist voices available in the future. 

Here is what Joanna Macy has to say about The Bodhisattva's Embrace: 

For friends and followers of the Dharma, this collection illumines the promise of our practice and its relevance to our world today. Shorn of sentimentality and electric with caring, Alan Senauke is a trustworthy guide. His essays serve me both as reports from the field and inspirational reading. 

• To order a signed copy or copies from the Clear View website, click here: Clear View Press
• To order by mail, send a check for $18/copy to Clear View Press, 1933 Russell Street, Berkeley, CA 94703
• To order from Amazon.com, click here: 
Amazon--Bodhisattva's Embrace


12-09-10 - South Mountain China Zen Tours 2010 Report by fearless tour leader Andy Ferguson

Also check out Andy's momentous Zen's Chinese Heritage, Wisdom Publications

 There's a video on these tours on the South Mt. site

Andy Ferguson cuke main page


12-05-10 - Russell Delman teaches Zen and Feldenkrais. Check out his website - interesting bio. He does workshops in Germany at Johanneshof (among other places) where I was last year and then on a Skype call son Clay mentioned that he was working on Delman's home with Sawyer Construction and I said people here were just asking me about him because we both live in Northen CA. Today I got an email from a student of his in Ashland, Oregon saying he'd recommended Crooked Cucumber to her and that now she's going to read Thank You and OK! and I decided it would be a good thing to link to Russel Delman's web page here today. - dc


12-04-10 - close call


12-03-10 - Passing on this note from Barton Stone (link to his cuke.com interview).

Dear Friends,
    I want to invite you all to visit the annual Zen Fest next Sunday, 9-4.  Admission is free.  Almost everything there is produced or supplied by the Stone Creek Zen Center sangha.  We usually raise about one third of our annual operating budget there through the sale of crafts, select rummage items, books, statuary, gift items, edibles, a raffle and silent auction.
    Many of you picked and donated blackberries which we turned into blackberry jam for the occasion, and the jam is especially good this year.
    No money?  No worry.  Just stop by to reconnect, make a prayer flag, have some tea, and enjoy the festivity with us.
    At the Masonic Hall in Sebastopol, across from Safeway.
    Thank you for everything this past year,
    Myozen Barton Stone

All ages are welcome!
At Masonic Center, 373 North Main Street, Sebastopol, CA (click for a map - across from Safeway).
All proceeds benefit Stone Creek Zen Center.
For more details, call 707 829-1129. Admission is free!

Stone Creek Zen Center


12-02-10 - Hindu group reminds us of Yoga's spiritual roots. - NY Times - thanks Bro Lor


12-01-10 - A Light in the Mind – Kobun Chino Roshi as remembered by Carolyn Atkinson - the final chapter in her book A Light in the Mind: Living Your Life Just As It Is  (Amazon link) - thanks HK

From Sweeping Zen - "the definitive online who's who of Zen"


November


11-30-10 - Time for another plug of Gloria Simoneaux's Harambee Arts.

from that site: Harambee Arts: Let's Pull Together TM partners with African grassroots programs to train local caregivers to provide art programs for vulnerable children in an environment that fosters their sense of joy, creativity and exuberance. Through its arts programs, Harambee Arts strives to promote the well-being of homeless, orphaned and other neglected children, enhance the stability of their families and support systems, and develop their sense of self-worth and positive personal ethics by creating opportunities for children to help other children.


11-29-10 - Visiting elder son Kelly tomorrow up the coast. He's been attending some sort of fungi function. Which brings to mind that his and his mate's well-plugged-on-cuke anthology of poetry about mushrooms is in its second printing. We'll be getting together with him at the hideout of David Arora, author of Mushrooms Demystified and more. Check out David Arora's website. And here's a cool piece he penned about seeing the little people on undercooked Yunan mushrooms that turn blue when scratched.

 


In praise of … Chalmers Johnson - from the Guardian

RIP to the political prophet who warned eloquently of the perils of empire and the urgent need to dismantle it. - dc


11-28-10 - Cosmos may show echoes of events before Big Bang - That's a BBC science article. I have a BBC RSS feed I think it's called and always am eager to read the brief science articles, in fact, if I'm in a hurry they may be the only ones I read. When I said this to Baker the Roshi he said that Stuart the Brand says that's the only news worth reading - or something like that. Anyway, this is the first time I've seen a notice of events before the Big Bang. Reflecting on this makes me want to wax on the subject of science and religion and the Big Bang. (Read More)


11-27-10 - Brian Howlett, Zen art man from sublime to whimsey.

Brian's Art site

Brian's blog - with cartoons and comment

The Full Moon Society - he's a promoter of poetry

His Facebook page

On Tricycle's blog

Brian did the art for two cuke.com tee shirts and other items available at Cafe Press - Buddhism (the religion that promises nothing and) Delivers and Zen Failure. Check 'em out in the Buddhism and Nothings section of the Cuke Basket.

Thanks Brian. - dc


11-26-10 - Contemplating Airport Scans and Pat-downs - in DC Misc


11-25-10 - Thank You

from Songs for
To Find the Girl from Perth

and happy Thanksgiving to you - dc


11-23-10 - Three short books, collections of Taisan Sheridan's poetry:

* Walking Zen Mountain: Poems for Awakening

* Snow Falling in Moonlight: Odes in Praise of Dogen's Shobogenzo

* Rice Eyes: Enlightenment in Dogen's Kitchen

Check 'em out at Zen Lamp Books - ancient wisdom in modern verse


11-20-10 - The recent Winter issue of Tricycle magazine has a couple of items that may be of interest to the discriminating cuke reader (I think I got that phrase from "the discriminating Mad reader).

Stephan Bodian wrote a profile of Kobun Chino

There is an article made up mainly of excerpts from Umbrella Man, the book of tributes to Mel Weitsman written by his dharma heirs on Mel’s 80th birthday.

    SFZC website article on Umbrella Man

Buy Umbrella Man through the SFZC bookstore


11-11-10 - The "Lost and Found in Translation" weekend (see What's New 10-30-10) went wonderfully well. One thing I realized was what a great contribution Peter Levitt had made to the project to translate and publish the complete Shobogenzo all together. Thanks Peter - and thanks to those who went before him, working tirelessly with Kaz Tanahashi since 1973 to get the job done. I don't know who they all are - Mel Weitsman, Dan Welch, Ed Brown, Katherine Thanas, Alan Senauke - who else? Reb Anderson I bet. read more

Back to Peter Levitt. He's a poet and Zen teacher.

Here's his web site.

He's a lay entrusted teacher (from Norman Fischer) in the Salt Spring Zen Circle, Salt Spring Island, BC. Appropriately, considering his translation work, his Zen name is Eihei Peter Levitt.  Contact is levgram@gmail.com and/or [two-five-zero-537-9567].


Also, what was the Iron Bell Zendo in Sacramento is now: 

Valley Streams Zen Sangha - Sacramento - 916-456-7752 - www.valleystreamszen.org 

email is info@valleystreamszen.org


Happy Veteran's Day - may all soldiers in the whole world be safe from harm, do no harm, and return home safely soon. IVAW.


11-05-10 - Live Video Streaming of Panels and Presentations of the "Lost and Found in Translation" weekend.

The SFZC will be offering, through the web, a live video stream of the Saturday and Sunday afternoon panels and presentations.

The stream will be available, live and on-demand, free to all, on a new San Francisco Zen Center channel at LiveStream.com.

http://www.livestream.com/sfzc

The channel page also offers real-time, text-based chat, moderated during the event by SF Zen Center staff.

This will be their first foray into live streaming, so they're expecting a few hiccups but are excited to extend the event to viewers who can't join in person. (see entry below)


October


10-30-10 - 50 years of work brings age-old wisdom to West by Don Lattin, Special to The Chronicle, an article on Kazuaki Tanahashi. The recent publication of Kaz's Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Shobo Genzo is one focus of this interview/article. Latin writes:

At Tanahashi's side was a freshly published, two-volume, 1,171-page translation of Dogen's masterwork, "Treasury of the True Dharma Eye" - the culmination of his 50-year collaboration with Japanese scholars and some of the Zen Center's best and brightest American teachers. Tanahashi has spent his entire adult life putting together this profound and poetic rendering - the complete works of one of Buddhism's most important teachers.

The publication of this great work is also the focus of the SFZC sponsored Zen Translation Forum called "Lost and Found in Translation" over the weekend of Novemeber 6-7.

Go to Kaz Tanahashi cuke interview with more relevant links from there.


10-29-10 - Just found exciting videos of two DC books:

Publisher Paul Speir briefly introducing To Find the Girl from Perth

Speir briefly introducing Color Dreams for To Find the Girl from Perth (featuring art by Andrew Atkeison)

[All changed in 2012 fall. Now go to Girl from Perth and Color Dreams]

Also added to the home page for To Find the Girl from Perth is the following message up top.

this page replaces http://girlfromperth.com/ or was that www.girlfromperth.com - which doesn't exist anymore - see fascinating note below.

That note includes the following line: I am happy to use the non web-based institution of Sonic.net to host my web sites. I pay a little more but boy is it worth it.

The Girl from Perth section of cuke not only serves to plug the GFP products but is where one can bypass purchasing and enjoy many of them for free - the book and illustrations (not Color Dreams), the CD of songs, the unabridged audiobook. And you still have to pay for the tee shirts and other nifty consumer products.)

Speir Publishing has moved  these two books to WillowBrook Publishing. Go there and you can see a video of Paul Speir talking briefly about WillowBrook and then you can click on the books to see the videos for them.


1-28-10 - Check out Mike Dosho Port's blog, Wild Fox Zen. Mike is a dharma heir of Dainin Katagiri

Here are two Shunryu Suzuki stories from Mike's blog. (thanks to MK for the tip)

***

And, here's another story from this link on Mike's blog:

...When Kishizawa Ian, Suzuki Roshi's second teacher, was a young monk, he was sitting in meditation on a rainy day and heard the sound of a distant waterfall. Then the wooden han was struck. He went to his teacher (maybe Oka Sotan) and asked, "What is the place where the sound of the rain, the waterfall, and the han meet?"
His teacher replied, "True eternity still flows."
And then he asked, "What is this true eternity that still flows?"
"It is like a bright mirror, permanently smooth," said his teacher.
"Is there anything beyond this?" asked the young monk.
"Yes," responded his teacher.
"What is beyond this?" inquired the young monk.
And his teacher replied, "Break the mirror. Come, and I'll meet you."

***

I see Mike has got a medal for being a Top Buddhist Blog. Never heard of that so I went there. Take a look. Some good links there.


10-25-10 - This beautiful painting by Jenny Wunderly recently adorned a wall at a John Tarrant sesshin. Check out Jenny's website.


Just got the following email. This is great news. I'm gonna get a new set of teeth, all new friends, start a website dedicated to lower taxes and eliminating the public dole to those with less incentive, and become an Episcopalian. - dc

Attn: Please,
We wish to notify you again that you were listed as an heir to the total sum of Five Million British Pounds.

A regular mail was dispatched to you but no reply from you. We request you to kindly acknowledge officially
to enable us process your inheritance.

Yours truly,
Admin
London UK.

filed in DC Misc here.


10-24-10 - Excerpts from Correspondence on Theravada Buddhist Monasticism in October, 2010, between Steven Mandelker and Bhikkhu Cintita Dinsmore. Bhikkhu Cintita Dinsmore’s website


Darlene Cohen's brother David needs a place to live in the North Bay - Marin or Sonoma Counties. Near Guerneville where Darlene lives would be good but he needs something, at least temporary soon. Read his note on this. And here's his website. - Nevermind. He got a place now. Thanks.


10-23-10 - A recent message from Darlene Cohen about her condition



10-22-10 - Zen Monster, Vol. 1, #2  is now on sale @ all 3 ZC bookstores or online @ www.spdbooks.com and 'google' Zen Monster on the site; its around $10. And don't forget Zen Monstor Vol. 1, #1. You can order them both from SFZC Bookstore. Check out the Zen Monster website.


Pacific Zen Inst., PZI-wise in the SF Bay Area, David Weinstein is doing a koan seminar on Sat. Oct. 23rd in SF and John Tarrant will be doing Sunday Morning at the Creek in Santa Rosa.


Thanking those who helped with the afterword to the 40th anniversary edition of ZMBM. Added this to the notes: For various assistance in doing this article, thanks to Richard Baker, Rachael Boughton, Kelly Chadwick, Mike Dixon, Silas Hoadley, Michael Katz, Genine Lentine, Mark Lewis, Katrinka McKay, John Nelson, Bill Redican, Paul Rosenblum, Peter Schneider, John Tarrant, Steve Tipton, Peter Turner at Shambhala Publications, Dan Welch, Michael Wenger, and ... can't think of anyone else right now. Please remind me. - DC 


The other day we mentioned Brad Warner's Sex, Sin, and Zen: A Buddhist Exploration of Sex from Celibacy to Polyamory and Everything in Between Amazon link. You might want to check out Brad's Hardcore Zen Blog. His Doubtboy Homepage. And his Zen Books that don't suck link.


10-20-10 - Check out this new web site for Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, zmbm dot net. Actually, all the content is here at cuke.com but it organizes the links more clearly and I had to do it because at the end of the afterword to the 40th anniversary edition of ZMBM, it says "Sources for the quotes in this article, notes, and extensive elaboration can be found at www. zmbm.net." So I spent a ton of time studying Dreamweaver cause my archaic Front Page was corrupted (since fixed) and I learned a few things and made a nice simple noir look but then just linked back to messy cuke or elsewhere. Maybe things will gravitate in the direction of the zmbm.net look. But not right now. Oh, I'd like to thank Christopher Modec-Halverson for acquiring the site zmbm.net and freely giving advice.


10-18-10 - The annotated version of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind at Forty, an afterword for the commemorative 40th anniversary edition of ZMBM as featured on this site eight days ago (see What's New 10-10-10). Anyway, lots of notes and links in this version, conveniently placed in a separate table to the right so one can ignore them if one wishes.


10-10-12 - Willem Malten on Amaranth: Rethinking a Weed


None of Us are Free - RIP Solomon Burke


The English Language In 24 Accents


balloonsRemembering my father who died in 56 on this his birthday.


zmbm 40th anniversary issue cover10-10-10 (at 10:10:10am) - After you come back from doing good deeds to save the world on this propitious day, take a look at ZMBM at 40, an afterword written by yours truly for the fortieth anniversary issue of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.

The 40th anniversary issue of ZMBM Shambhala Publications link and Amazon link.

I'm going to be adding more info and links to the afterword. - dc


1-08-10-  Thanks to Andrew M in Santa Fe for the following note:

Karl Renz will be in the Bay Area again next week, October 13-17, then in Seattle and San Diego. (We'll miss him in Santa Fe this year; last September for the first time I did a whole "weekend intensive", which I found very rewarding. He's like a church-key applied to the mind.)See write-up <http://www.cuke.com/misc/karl-renz-coming.html> for more about Karl. See Karl's schedule <http://karlrenz.com/deutsch/termine.htm> for details.

There are a number of short videos of Karl on YouTube, where you can get a taste of his content and style: <http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Karl+Renz>


SFZC is sponsoring a Zen Translation Forum called "Lost and Found in
Translation" over the weekend of Novemeber 6-7.

Buddhists at War, a review of two books on Truthdig.


10-04-10 - Check out these books:

Fil Lewitt's The Zen Follies, is available only on Amazon.com (that's the book's link). The following places and persons are among the ones mentioned or discussed in The Zen Follies: Tassajara Monastery, San Francisco Zen Center, Big River Farm Sangha, Daitokuji Temple in Kyoto; Fil Lewitt (myself), Katagiri Dainin-roshi, Suzuki Shunryu-roshi,  Tatsugami-roshi, Tommy Dorsey-roshi, Ikkyu-roshi, Kobori Nanrei-sensei, Chogyam Trungpa-rinpoche, Dick Baker, Reb Anderson, Bob Walter, Alan Rabold, Jack Elias, David Chadwick, Ed Brown, Dan Welch, Daisy Hellman Paradis, Linda Crawford, Gary Snyder, Richard Alpert (Ram Dass), Harold Brayton, and others. - That's from Fil's message about the book. Read the whole message.

***

And Brad Warner's Sex, Sin, and Zen: A Buddhist Exploration of Sex from Celibacy to Polyamory and Everything in Between Amazon link

 


Happy 37th Kelly!


 

10-03-10 - Calling all SF Zen Center alumni! Please offer your input on our newly forming alumni organization by taking our survey. An alum is defined as someone who has completed at least one full practice period at CC, GGF, or Tassajara, and/or has received the precepts from an established teacher at San Francisco Zen Center. See our introductory letter on the SFZC alumni home page. Please help us get the word out by  emailing the survey link to friends and posting it on your blog or Facebook page, if you have one. Let's explore the possibilities of reconnecting our wider sangha.


September


9-28-10 - "Tokyo Vice" and Japanese Morality: Devin Stewart Interviews Jake Adelstein - thanks to MK


Tomorrow eve will be joining the Peaceful Sea Sangha for zazen and an exchange of epiphonies.


Am being held prisoner at Redwoods Haus - Bed and Breakfast Inn. Very cool, from the outside looks like a funky tropical beach guest house one might find abroad, but the inside is pure, clean California comfort. Good folks.

A guest here from San Antonio was talking about the Gulf oil spill over our keisch this morning and said that the Gulf being poluted is nothing new, that it was an oily mess 20 years ago when he'd go there as a kid - tar an inch below the sand, washing off the oil from their skins with WD40.

My Front Page is corrupt and don't have the disc on me so I'm studying Dream Weaver and CSS and XML which I've been told to use by many techies for a long time among other advice. Maybe something will come of it. - DC


9-23-10 - Happy Equinox.


Eido Shimano steps down. - from Open Buddha, an interesting site.


The Fort Worth Zendo is associated with MKZC in Dallas. They meet each Thursday, 6:30 – 8:00 pm, Catholic Renewal Center, Nolan High School, 4503 Bridge St, FW, 76103
All lineages and religions are welcome to come sit in traditional silent meditation.


Playing with the moon and the sun.


9-20-10 - In Fort Worth visiting mother and friends. Planning to go to Dallas on Wednesday to zazenitate with the folks at the Maria Kannon Zen Center. Here's a link on that site to their teachers.


9-19-10 - Edward Brown, teacher of the Peaceful Sea Sangha, is offering a Fall Retreat - October 28 - 31 at Green Gulch Farm. Details about Edward's fall meditation retreat are now available. Check the calendar on their website for info and a flyer and more info on more happenings.


9-18-10 - Crowded by Beauty; A Biography of Poet and Zen Teacher Philip Whalen, by David Schneider, forthcoming from University of California Press. You can download a chapter at On http://www.coyotesjournal.com/.

See Phil Whalen Interview on this site and the Whalen link page.


9-08-10 - Arrived yesterday at Crestone, Colorado, where we're (Katrinka and me) scanning a vast vista from Crestone Mountain Zen Center (CMZC).

This view is from further up.

 

This is a great place to practice or to hold workshops and retreats. - dc

 

 

 

Here's the zendo.


Suzuki and Trungpa student Paul Shippee is offering

"Meditation and Nonviolent Communication" -Opening to Life Through Compassionate Presence-

September 10-12, 2010 in Davis, CA, at the Shambhala Meditation Center

Read more on this plus his notes from a workshop in Madrid on May 8/9 2010 on Meditation, Non-Violent Communication and the Heart Sutra.

Read cuke interview with Paul Shippee.


August


8-29-10 - Andy Ferguson's new writings on Bodhidharma are most interesting.

Andy wrote the excellent Zen's Chinese Heritage.

Check out his South Mountain China tours and here are some nifty items he put together for the Cuke Basket.


8-28-10 - MLK's emphasis toward the end of his life was to work for peace. This article from WagingPeace states it well and simply.


And speaking of peace, here's a month old piece by Ralph Nader on the War in Afghanistan.


8-21-10 - This Old Earthquake

Rave review for this new Bolinas band in yesterday's Marin IJ.

I don't know if I can make their Wed. 8-25 concert August 25 at a very cool performance hall in SF called Viracocha cause I'm gonna be with Edward Browns Fairfax CA Zen group from 7 to 9:30 and the show starts at 8 but maybe it goes late. Liz Tuomi's son Ethan Okamura is part of this trio. - dc.


8-20-10 - There are a few articles in the new issue of Tricycle that are SFZC related. This includes a portfolio of Kaz Tanahashi’s brushwork (see his cuke interview), Wendy Johnson’s regular and always fine gardening column, Katy Butler’s interview with actor Jeff Bridges, and an article by Andrew Cooper about organizing Thich Nhat Hanh’s first U.S. teaching tour, in 1983. The TNH article is called “The Debacle” and a good part of it takes place at SFZC.

 Busy working - little time for cuke these days - dc.


8-13-10balloonsHappy Birthday mother


8-08-10 - All our well-being prayers go out to Richard Jaffe who I've received word is seriously ill. - dc

RICHARD JAFFE is the Chair of the Department of Religion at Duke University. He received his Ph.D. in religious studies with a concentration in Buddhist studies from Yale University in 1995. Dr. Jaffe is a specialist in modern Japanese Buddhism. He is the author of Neither Monk nor Layman: Clerical Marriage in Modern Japanese Buddhism (2002) and Seeking Shakyamuni: World Travel and the Creation of Modern Japanese Buddhism (forthcoming in Japanese). Currently he is working on a book about Japanese Buddhist travel and the transformation of Buddhism in late-nineteenth century Japan. (from this page)


Paintings and Drawings by Dan Welch (discovered this looking for a picture of Richard Jaffe for whom two of these art works are dedicated. One is also for yours truly and hangs in my bedroom. - dc)


8-05-10 - Hiroshima Day - time to go see Countdown to Zero


8-05-10 - RIP Robert Aitken

Judy Gilbert wrote:

Thought you might want to post on cuke{dot}com that Robert Aitken-roshi passed away this morning from complications from pneumonia.

I was snagged into BPF by him (his word) in the late 70's, and at one point said, "You know, I have enough teachers, but what I really need is a grandpa. Would be one for me?" And he said, "I'd be delighted!"

A big tree has fallen in the forest today.


8-01-10 - Leo's Buddha

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July


7-31-10 - Sorry about absence. Expect more. Busy at Tarrantland with various projects and enjoying working with J Thorn, Dennis the Samson, Andrew the concrete wall meister, Howie the servent of all beings, Clay the drum gardener, Todd the Montana monster, Joyce the wrench-wise, Hans the hammerman, and various legal and illegal bros, with constant support from Trinkita my sweeta. - dc


7-25-10 - The Dream of the Turquoise Bee - Cultural Diplomacy in Eastern Tibet Slideshow/Presentation

July 26, 2010 (Monday)    7:00 PM

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda, Berkeley

Requested Donation:  $10

Benefiting Tibetan Political Prisoners and Their

Families and

Sacred Sites International, a Berkeley-Based Preservation Advocacy Organization

Evening Hosted by Sacred Sites International  www.sacred-sites.org

We have just posted our Dream of the Turquoise Bee Tour video on youtube and we would love to have you take a look and pass the link on to your friends and colleagues.  The more people see it, the more clicks we get, the higher it will rise in the Google Search—and you know what that means!—people looking for a fabulous adventure in Tibet will see us first.

 Go to www.dianneaigaki.com/tibet, scroll down and click on the monk in the red robes to get to the youtube video. That allows you to see the site as well as access the video.  Or go directly to the video at You Tube


7-24-10 - Don't Blame BP - a pinched image short


7-23-10 - The History of Everything in Stop Motion Street Animation


7-21-10 - Day Off


7-20-10 - Photos of Bob Walter doing yoga at Green Gulch Farm - on John Stroud's Picasa site. See Interview with Bob Walter from two days ago.


7-19-10 - Symphony of Science - 'We Are All Connected' - Sagan, Feynman, deGrasse Tyson & Bill Nye on YouTube.

Feynman: Inconceivable nature of nature

Sagan, Hawing (and a bit from Arthur C. Clarke) on the Universe and God - Sagan talks about how the way most people thinks works for the world we perceive but not the very small and the very big that science deals with these days. But when they talk about "god" or anything beyond the laws of their science it seems to me they're stuck in their own limits. Still I have great respect for them and love to hear them talk about the cosmos. - dc


7-18-10 - Interview with Bob Walter who practiced with Suzuki, Katagiri, Soen, Dudjum, Kerouac, Watts, Rollo May, and yours truly. - dc

The Richard Baker interview (7-10) was from the Winter 1994 issue of Tricycle. Thanks to Andrew Main who also sent this link for Richard Baker in Wikipedia


7-17-10 - Only with the Heart - that's a PDF of a 12 step workbook by Frank Costanza who wrote The Rustling of Leaves: An Adventure of Recovery. Thanks to Milas


7-16-10 - Forecast of an EMP destroying solar storm and what to do about it.


7-15-10 - The founder of the Fugs is gone. Read about it and listen to Kill for Peace.


7-14-10 - Zen Yoshifuku's Contrast Magazine


7-13-10 - Interesting Western scientific take on the (to me) silly god question. Is There a God or Is There Nothingness? New Scientific Paradigm. I don't like the either-or ness of the name which are to me false choices, but the article is interesting. - from Huffington Post.

And also from the Huff Post, this on Amma, the hugging guru. Clay and I were hugged by her when Clay was about two in Santa Fe. [more in dchad misc]

7-12-10 - Relative size of planets and stars - love stuff like this. - thanks Gregory


7-11-10 - The Secret Powers of Time - thanks Kelly


7-10-10 - Ran into this old interview with Richard Baker - thanks David Silva. From Winter 94 Tricycle.


7-09-10 - Embrace Life PSA - A touching ad for seatbelts that made the big time, done I understand by an amateur in England. I have known a few people who say they feel safer without seatbelts, one in particular who says not wearing one has saved his life twice. I have also met a few who say they feel safer on a motorcycle than in a car. I favor the policy advocated by this ad. Thanks Rene. - dc


7-08-10 - Save Sakineh from Stoning in Iran

Happy to see progressive commentator Cenk Uygur on MSNBC - here bemoaning Obama's economic strategy.


7-07-10 - IOS - Information Overload Syndrome - is this really from Xerox?


7-06-10 - John Steiner suggests the Spiritual Media Network


7-05-10 - Thanks to Richard Speel for sending:

Don't be afraid of a flag...Sometimes it blows and other times it waves...

Have a peaceful day of interdependence!

Joseph Campbell was pro flag and I looked for a quote from him on it but couldn't find one. Cuke is neutral. - dc

 


7-04-10 - Put Away the Flags

by Howard Zinn
 
Happy July 4th!

7-02-10 - On this page, a poem from Mark Lewis, Bus Stop, The Rubin Museum of Art posted the poem he submitted in conjunction with their show on the Tibetan Book of the Dead.


7-01-10 - Join the Peace Team to help us end the occupation of Afghanistan as soon as we can. Posted in Out of Afghan!


June


6-30-10 - Many people have sent me this link to Buddhist Geeks on the Aitken/Shimano Letters. Ouch. Read the cuke interview with Eido Shimano.


6-29-10 - Announcing the Abiding Senior Dharma Teacher at GGF and Reb Anderson's decision not to accept that position.


6-28-10 - Thanks to old pal John DeSmidt for sending along this Russian Tire Buddha.


6-27-10 - Look at these wonderful photos of Sarnath taken by Clare Whitfield, my ex-mom-in-law (Elin). She also sent me a wonderful little earthen Buddha from there which is on the table by my bed. I publicly apologize to Clare for taking so long to thank her for that. What prodded my memory is that I happened on her email with the link to these photos which I don't remember getting. It must have gotten buried by accident.


6-26-10 - Night before last, Bob Walter and I went to sit with Dave Haselwoood and his Empty Bowl Sangha. I've got a long interview with Bob I'm aiming at getting transcribed soon. He's visiting from Tasmania where he's been for thirty years. - dc


6-25-10 - Found it, that is, found what we were looking for yesterday. It's at Crestone Mt. ZC in the Hotoan, the abbot's study.


6-24-10 - Looking for the original calligraphy for the cover of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. See it to the left. Shambhala Publications wants a new scan for the 40th anniversary issue. Need it now. Please contact me, DC, at dchad3(at)sonic(dot)net


6-23-10 - The Dream of the Turquoise Bee
Cultural Diplomacy in
Eastern Tibet

Slideshow/Presentation

June 27, 2010 (Sunday)   
5:00 PM

Sebastopol Community Center 
at 
425 Morris Street, Sebastopol

Read about it


6-17-08 - Yesterday Kelly (see 6-15) and I visited with Veronique and Charles Fox in Bolinas (here's a photo of Charles and an article on him and his photos).

Here's a quick documentary flick Charles' son James made on the BP Spill. Disturbing. - dc

Charles Fox memorial page


6-16-08 - Mark Foote whose site is Zen Mudra came to the reading last night. Check out this animation he did with Adobe Flash:

The Bridge That Flows (Zazen)

Mark writes: If anybody is interested, this is a stripped-down version of the third of three animations at my site.  While I was in the process, a friend in England sent me some graphics from the pyramids of Egypt that he was puzzling over, and lo and behold:  the same principles of anatomy that I was trying to illustrate were right there on the walls of ancient Egypt.  I decided to include the graphics from the pyramids in the animations, and you can see that at my site:


6-15-2010 - Kelly the elder son arrives today. So does poet Charlotte Innes, coming from LA. She sent an email last night to Kelly and me adding the five poems she's going to read to the five he's going to read and asking is that okay and is that going to conflict with what I'm going to read from Decomposition tonight at Copperfields and I wrote her back:

Poems? What poems? I'm just working on sending out emails and making phone calls and putting up a notice on Facebook etc.

 

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

How about this fungal poem from page 49?

          ribbed white canopy
an overnight sensation
          hell-bent for salad

---Tejiro

Hope to see you tonight in Sebsatopol, Thursday in Berkeley, Friday in Sonoma or in the pages of Decomposition (details here). - dc


6-14-2010 - Susan Moon writes that This Is Getting Old - a new book from the maker of Tofu Roshi. Here's her blog - check the Bay Area events which continue into July. One is tomorrow night at Readers Books in Sonoma CA while Kelly and I are at Copperfields in nearby Sebastopol. Then we're going to be at Readers Books in Sonoma on Friday at five


6-13-2010 - Nothing is Written. This phrase comes to me now and then and I was wondering where I got it from. [more on this at dchad misc]


6-12-2010 - Remembering Jacque Cousteau, a timely post.


6-11-2010 - Yard Dogs Road Show - What a group. Why is this here? There's a reading for the book, Decomposition (see cuke page on this book and Bay Area events), on Friday 6-18 5pm at Reader's Books in Sonoma, CA (and Lilla and Andy's (the owners) son is in the Yard Dogs Road Show and is also into mushrooms and is I think involved with providing the mushroom snacks for the event.


6-10-2010 - The Austin Zen Center

Steve's blog about the Austin Zen Center, a center in the Suzuki Roshi lineage.


6-09-2010 - Noam Chomsky and Ralph Nader - I don't think either should run for president, but to me each in his own way sure cuts through the established propaganda and assumptions. - dc


6-08-2010 - Thanks to Howie Klein for taking these photos of the get-together to celebrate the completion of the gazebo here at Tarantland that he and Clay Chadwick built. Howie was there from the first and kept the momentum going with him and Clay and he did a great job on the steps. Ellery Samson and Clay did the branch over the doorway and Clay did the bench. Todd Springfield got the whole job cleaned up and ready for the party.

Thanks to Dennis Samson for pointing out the meanings of the word gazebo which are

  1. A freestanding, roofed, usually open-sided structure providing a shady resting place.
  2. A belvedere [A rooftop pavilion from which a vista can be enjoyed.]

Our gazebo is a freestanding, un-roofed, open-sided structure from which a vista can be enjoyed, a combination of the two.

Dennis also mentioned the origin of the word gazebo to be from Swedish or something near there and being related to the verb "gaze," and some sources agree but most say "unknown origin."

     

     

Present were Andrew Atkeison, wife Rosie, and their friend Michelle, Mary Cunov, Andy Ferguson, Howie Klein, Katrinka McKay, Deb Saint, Joyce Pointe and her friend Mike, Dennis Samson, Todd Springfield, John Tarrant, and yours truly DC. Clay was with friends at Raindance.


6-07-2010 - How about Buddhist Geeks dot com which now features an interview with Stephen Batchelor which makes me marvel again at all the takes people have on Buddhism and reality - none of which I believe, including my own. (read on at dchad misc).


6-06-2010 - Drums Along the Hudson - what Kamala Buckner was up to May 23rd.


6-05-2010 - Johnny Thorn remembers Roy Iwake


 

 

 

 

 

 


6-04-2010 - Bro Lor sends a poem on the BP spill: WELCOME  QUETZALCOATL

Imported Seafood warning. Ouch.


6-03-2010 - Roy Iwake, has died unexpectedly in a bicycle accident. See his cuke interview. Roy sat with Shunryu Suzuki back when we were starting Tassajara. I met again him decades later through John Tarrant who is going to write something on Roy. Johnny Thorn called this morning to let me know. Roy did wonderful, complicated origami he called cavex round folding. Johnny said Roy was going to New York to some origami event that was recognizing his work. There will be a memorial service in mid July. More here later. - dc


6-02-2010 - Wrote a fungi-specific bio of son Kelly that's now on the cuke page for his new book, Decomposition. Reminder that Kelly, poet Charlotte Innes, and I will be doing readings from the book June 15th in Sebastopol, 16th in Berkeley, and 18th in Sonoma. Details here. - dc


6-01-2010 - Interview that's really more of a conversation with early Suzuki student Mike Dixon - from 1994. Still catching up. Check out Mike's art on his website (find the portrait of Dan Welch). Mike did the cloud paintings at Greens restaurant and the fly for Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. He's also an excellent musician.


May


5-31-2010 -

Tribute to Peter Orlovsky

Born in New York City in 1933, Peter dropped out of high school in his senior year to help support his financially troubled family. In 1954 he met Allen Ginsberg in San Francisco. Their 44-year relationship ended with Allen's death in 1997. Peter died in Vermont on May 30.   - Read more about Peter Orlovsky, and contribute to his tribute page


5-30-2010 - When in Albuquerque sit at the Desert Mirror Zendo.


5-29-2010 - There exists only the present instant... a Now which always and without end is itself new. There is no yesterday nor any tomorrow, but only Now, as it was a thousand years ago and as it will be a thousand years hence.

Meister Eckhart - The Eckhart Society


5-28-2010 - Wealth gap grows between black and white Americans. Bad.

Defeat in the war on drugs


5-27-2010 - A conversation with archery master
Kanjuro Shibata Sensei is now at the top of the Chronicles Project Let Loose Radio series.


Happy Birthday Daya Goldschlag, mother of son Kelly.

 


Got the search thing down. Jrank rules and does PDFs, just had to make some adjustments - see Site Search near top of Home Page to the right.


5-26-2010 - Did some more research on site search and put a homemade Google Site Search (thanks to askdavetaylor.com) and now the search function on shunryusuzuki.com gets PDFs as well which is good because the complete collection there is all PDFs, which, as indicated yesterday, will change at some point but not now. So the Google and the Jrank site searches are both here for comparison for now. - dc

Now I've got to get to work promoting Kelly's book signings for Decomposition in mid June in the Bay Area. Here's the event schedule.


5-25-2010 - Exciting new Site Search feature on cuke.com home page and inside the gate of shunryusuzuki.com (the whole archive comes to you). Trying out this highly praised JRANK system. Just am installing it today (and it should be functional in a few hours) thanks to a request from Mark Lancaster. He's going to be giving a talk about lay practice in Arcata Ca in June and wanted to know about Suzuki Roshi lectures where he mentioned beginner's mind and lay practice. I did a quick Google site search using the Google formula for that: <search term[space]site:URL> which in this case was <beginner's mind site:www.shunryusuzuki.com>. There was no difference putting "beginner's mind" in quotes or not. That brought up a handful of files with a couple being non Suzuki comments and some duplication because there several collections of Suzuki lectures on this site. And for some reason it didn't include the original Beginner's Mind lecture that was edited for book (Here it is on this site). I had a whole list of things to do today but put them aside to do some research on how to better search the site, something I've been wanting to do for cuke.com and to improve and expand for shunryusuzuki.com. What I came up with was JRANK. Let's see how it works. It's quite simple. Send feedback to dchad3(at)sonic(dot)net. Thanks - DC

Already see one problem - it isn't getting the PDFs on shunryusuzuki.com but it works there.

Now a really weird thing - on cuke it's just taking me to PayPal. Hmm. OK. Fixed that. There was a PayPal code still in there. I had taken it off because I hardly ever get anything that way anyway but there was a remnant. Probably should return PayPal anyway cause there's the occasional donation and who knows what the future holds.

So after writing that I got a donation through PayPal - thank you so very much - and I don't think it was because I put that last message up but because the kind  donating person was the victim of the crossup where they tried to search and was sent to the PayPal donation page for cuke.com. Glory be.

Like I said, I must get that back up again.

Anyway, the search thing is working great for cuke already. I think it doesn't do PDFs though and I think what I should do is put all the lectures up in regular old words like this page. That will take a bit of work but it would be better. Problem is I'd like to work with them a bit while I do that to make them more uniform. Hmm. Maybe I should put up a Google site search that does PDFs while I'm doing that. But now it's time for omphaloskepsis. Goodnight. - dc


5-24-2010 - Karen Armstrong makes her TED wish and makes some excellent points about religion quite relevant in terms what went on here yesterday and the day before.


5-23-2010 - Yesterday, was I unfair to Hitchens, Dawkins, and Maher? To elaborate with both praise and non praise - More on the New Atheists and a lot about Jesus et al.


5-22-2010 - From Science to God, another Culture Unplugged film, this one from Peter Russell who doesn't use the word "god" in this presentation. That's what Culture Unplugged calls it.  The word "god" can mean so much. A lot of people prefer not to use it cause it's so tainted by literalism and a lot of bad associations. But to many it's just another word for the absolute, buddha, tao, the cosmos, the unknown, etc. And I think it's important to rehabilitate the word because so many think it's that or nothing. And maybe it might help to open a crack in the little boxes where we find simplistic atheists (as opposed to cosmic atheists) who think they're being scientific like Hitchens, Dawkins, and Maher. Here's Peter Russell's website. He's another Noetics guy like Dean Radin who was featured here on 5-03. -dc


5-21-2010 - Zowie Howie K sent a link to a wonderful documentary on Chinese Poet Han Shan, Cold Mountain, the name of the film. I loved seeing and listening to Bill Porter (Red Pine), Gary Snyder, Burton Watson, and poet Jim Lenfestey whom I was unfamiliar with. I was filled with admiration for them and Han Shan, and humbled which is a good thing. Culture Unplugged  is the name of the site. It's got many tempting documentaries. I saw a few others and was reminded of the statement (origin unknown) that the only thing worse than bad TV is good TV. - dc


5-20-2010 - A couple of brief excerpts from the Tricycle interview with Lew Richmond (featured here 5-06) where Lew says some things about Suzuki Roshi's teaching and intention that ring quite true to me, DC. - thanks Mad


Also added Bashar's Four Laws of Creation to my screed of 5-18 so one wouldn't have to watch the video to see what they are.


5-19-2010 - Roller Doll Skates! - Where Katrinka and I hang out when we're in Bend and we're in Bend. This store is run by Dee Moralizer with assistance from her mate, ref Foul Bundy. Catch them at a Lava City Roller Doll bout.

 


5-18-2010 - On Delusion


5-17-10 - Father Steve Frost's Nepsis Foundation - very cool, check it out. - dc


5-16-10 - Ramana Maharshi: Sage of Arunachala, a film - thanks Lor


5-15-10 - Fierce Grace, an inspiring film about Ram Dass.

Ram Dass dot org


5-14-10 - Some Memories on the Making and Promoting of World Suicide


5-13-10 - Did Bodhidharma Exist and did he Meet Emperor Wu?

Many scholars say no, but I disagree.

The link below allows downloading a paper I've written that offers a new theory about Bodhidharma's life, previously unpublished in China or the West. It is based on modern Chinese scholarship and my own analysis of old texts, plus field observations at sites reputed to be where Bodhidharma lived and taught in China. The conclusions of the paper are entirely my own. - Andy Ferguson


5-12-10 - Pardon me but

Just stumbled on this at Goodreads.com

Reviews and Ratings on

Crooked Cucumber

Thank You and OK!

Zen Is Right Here

To Shine One Corner of the World
(same as Zen Is Right Here)

To Find the Girl from Perth - 0 ratings or reviews

Color Dreams for To Find the Girl from Perth - 0 ratings or reviews

That's show biz - DC


5-11-10 - Reb Anderson dot org


5-10-10 - Shogoji - where practiced for a little over a month in Japan not long after arriving there in April of 1988 with Dainin Katagiri Roshi and Nonin Chowaney and Ekai Korematsu. In Thank You and OK, called it Hogoji. - dc


5-09-10 - Happy Mother's Day to my mother Ahdel, sister Susan, mate Katrinka, former mates Elin (mother of Clay), Liz, Daya (mother of Kelly), to Renée (co-author of Decomposition), Clare (Elin's mom), to all other mothers in all realms, to the virgin (pure of heart) Mary (purity of heart), mother of Jesus (utterly divine mind) and to Prajna Paramita, the mother of the Buddhas (according to some like Red Pine).

Click on thumbnail of Salvador Dali's Gala Mary to enlarge


5-08-10 - Making Weird Music (linked to the Weird, Experimental, Industrial, New Wave Department of Defuser Music dot com in the Songs Recorded with Blaise section).


5-07-10 - A sprained ankle in Thailand - in dchad misc, Unusual Experience Department - same as two days ago except now there's an audio version thanks to Howie Klein coming by with a little digital recorder. The sound isn't so good. Next time I'll use one of my good mikes. I need to figure out now how to have the sound play while reading it or looking at an image or whatever. One way to do that of course would be to just open another browser page. Hmm. Have to experiment.

Incidentally, Howie said something yesterday I thought I'd pass on. I told him someone was worried about their full name being mentioned here plus some other data about their family, worried that this could lead to identity theft. I didn't really sympathize but it's their bizness so I made the appropriate changes. Howie said that this person was obviously not a Buddhist because Buddhists don't believe in identity theft. - dc


5-06-10 - The coming Tricycle magazine will have two articles of particular cuke interest:

The Fog of World War II: Setting the Record Straight on D.T. Suzuki by Nelson Foster and Gary Snyder [ file in the Brian Victoria department] This article summarizes the recent Eastern Buddhist article that calls into question some of Brian Victoria’s claims about D.T. Suzuki’s support of Japanese imperialism.

Authentic Life - an interview with Lew Richmond from which the following three photos were lifted.

See the Lew Richmond cuke page


5-05-10 - A sprained ankle in Thailand - in dchad misc, Unusual Experience Department


5-04-10 - Bob Walter remembers an exchange between Suzuki Roshi and a student.


5-03-10 - Dean Radin - check out his books on this site.


5-02-10 - From the Final Broadcast of the Bill Moyer's Journal: Plutocracy and Democracy Don't Mix


5-01-10 - Congratulations to Ed Brown and Meg Gawler on the birth of their granddaughter.

 

 


5-01-10 - Oil Rigs, Banks, Bizness motto: "Whatever we can get away with, we will do. Don't blame us. Blame you."

Righteous legislators and citizens rail against businesspeople and corporations for being greedy and irresponsible. That's ridiculous. In our system their responsibility is to be greedy, to maximize short term profit. There's no law or regulation against being greedy. It's obvious, reviewing the record, that whatever can be done to make money will be, that if we don't want something done, there should be a law or regulation against it, and people watching out to make sure it's not done. If not, some people or some businesses will do it, as sure as water flowing down to the lowest level. If it was not illegal to go into people's homes, take their children, grind them into mush, and sell them as pet food - some people would do it. The idea that regulation per se is bad is a recipe for disaster. The idea that business will regulate itself is not sound. The rules might have to be continually adjusted and balanced, but to eliminate them? Not a good idea. What would happen if there were no rules, no penalties in football or on the highways? In chess? To this observer, it is the fault of legislators and ultimately citizens that the recent horrible oil spill happened. It was known that BP had not been willing to spend the money to make sure it wouldn't happen. I'm not talking about eliminating it but about bringing it up to the accepted standard which in this case was having something like an expensive backup safety cap. The same goes for our recent mega financial problems - the dangers were known and allowed. I don't think the president and lawmakers should lecture business people about business ethics - I think they should see that there are the proper laws and regulations in place - an ongoing task. And the people should demand this of the lawmakers. We haven't. We let bizness own the lawmakers and make the rules to a vast extent. This is all our fault.


April


4-30-10 - Grace Schireson on KPFA today Friday at 12:30pm for Living Room. She will also teach at Berkeley Zen Center on Saturday May 1 from 1-4:00pm on Seijo and her Soul are Separated. - see (cuke What's New 4-28-10). In her KPFA interview of that day she mentioned that the SFZC is about to have a change of abbotship to three abbots, all three male. I just got a notice on that titled Trial Abbatial Restructuring at SF Zen Center from their Sangha e! newsletter.


4-29-10 - FAIR article NPR Touts Pro-Nuke 'Environmentalists' including a look at Stewart Brand - see 4-24-10.

Bill Gates TED talk on how we've got to innovate to zero carbon emissions before long and how.

What's the official cuke position on all this? A I wrote to a friend recently: standing with hands in pockets and mouth agape going duhhhhh.


4-28-10 - Grace Schireson on KPFA talking about Zen Women: Beyond Tea Ladies, Iron Maidens, and Macho Masters and Suzuki Roshi and more - thanks Howie

Wisdom Books link

amazon link

Central Valley Zen Foundation

 

 

 


4-27-10 - Chimps Grieve Over Dead Relatives in Science mag of AAAS and Chimps grieve - in the Herald Sun - posted in the Death and Dying section with implications for Santhara (fasting as death approaches) and Fauna Ahimsa (minimizing harm to animals) as well.


Phillip Wilson's name was misspelled as "Philip" in Crooked Cucumber and I had fixed that in some places but got more today. See PW's main page.


4-26-10 - A response to Stewart Brand's pro nuke energy spiel of 4-24-10

from Mark Bittner and here's a link to his partner Judy Irving.


4-25-10 -  INTERNATIONAL PETITION TO PROTECT LUMBINI'S ENVIRONMENT - thanks to Ron Browning


4-24-10 -  Stewart Brand - rethinking green on FORA-tv. I love to have all my cherished assumptions about something undermined. - dc

The Long Now Foundation's link to rethinking green.

The book: Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto.

See his annotations to this book at his website.


4-23-10 -  Bob Walter is visiting. Here he is with Suzuki Roshi at Tassajara in about 1970.

hit thumbnails to enlarge

Bob's been in Tazmania for 30 years. He does yoga.
More to come.


4-22-10 -  Bob Thurman on TED - thanks Howie


4-21-10 -  Decomposition: Fungi-Inspired Poems

a new book by Kelly Chadwick and Renée Roehl

Read about it and see a nifty photo of K & R

Get it from Kelly and Renée (best way) - for now email dchad3(at)sonic(dot)net. Will have direct info later today.

Get it from the publisher: Lost Horse Press

Lastly, get it from Amazon


4-20-10 -  Today's the big day for pot. Why?--that's right - kids from around here (Marin County, CA) started it. May people be persecuted for using pot no more. See NORML and Legalization of Marijuana dot com  and MPP. I don't use it or anything but caffienated tea - but I don't use persecution either--that most harmful and addictive drug. That's why cuke dot com enthusiastically supports harm reduction - reducing the harm from drugs and the war on drugs (read war on people).

What is harm reduction?

Harm Reduction dot org

Harm reduction on Drug Policy dot org



4-19-10 - Happy 19th birthday Clay! (on top left with Turkish ensemble at Lark in the Morning music camp in Mendocino summer 2009.

And in New Orleans working with Common Ground in the spring of 2009

 

 

 

 


4-18-10 - The Inklings of Michael Wenger

Prior Wenger art on cuke

 

 


Los Alamos Lab's CMRR-NF project would send wrong message to world By Willem Malten in the Santa Fe New Mexican - another posting in the Nuclear (pronounced like "new clear") Threat section


4-17-10 -  Updating the Species Threats section - nuclear threat department.

Significant movement on nuclear weapons reduction - but not really getting below species threat level, still within psychotic planet definition - featuring Jonathan Schell's April 2010 article Reaching Zero in the Nation with other links and reports.


4-16-10 -  Charley Pokorny who's doing the Suzuki Roshi blog for the SFZC, came over and we fixed a screwed up audio file he'd noticed. So now if you go to shunryusuzuki.com and get in and then to the Suzuki Lecture Index and go to 66-03-13b, you'll get the corrected lecture. Also added on the side are Ananda Claude Dalenberg's intro to the tape and a good clean version of the Heart Sutra. I edit out everything from the Suzuki lectures that isn't him talking and put it in separate files in an Other Folder. Here it all is on cuke so you don't have to go to shunryusuzuki.com to get it. The first two are 32k mp3 and the lecture is 16k which may be too low quality for you. Let me know if so and I'll change it.

Claude's comment

The Heart Sutra - with Dainin Katagiri leading the chanting

Shunryu Suzuki lecture B on 66-03-13

Incidentally, just fixing this and changing it in various archive drives and on the web took several hours. If doing a bunch of like stuff at once of course it gets faster and one stops making the same mistakes. - dc


4-15-10 -  Top shorts at Vue8 - digital films.

oh oh - Agave sweetener bad news


4-14-10 -  I've got this new site for my music, defusermusic.com which is just getting going, and found an old experimental sort of industrial sampled album of mine on the Internet here at this site for weird stuff where my entry is flattered by being called the weirdest of them all. I blush. Anyway, if you like obscurata check this site out. It's called A Viable Commercial: Obscure and unknown 80s post punk, minimal wave, electropop, new wave, and other stuff. I link to the page my old album is on. - dc


4-13-10 -  A very good Caring Page update on Grace Dammann


4-12-10 - Sciencemptiness - I love science articles like this about stuff beyond my comprehension. I believe everything and nothing, get into and then posit myself in the future looking back and laughing at all the weird stuff we used to think while thinking the new stuff makes sense. Thanks to Mk for sending that link (which was followed to further links at the bottom etc) and referring to Hua Yen Buddhism where after finding myself dizzy on the floor went I here, yes to Wikipedia, and read that page and then started following those links in another incomprehensible series of mind blowings. Physics and emptiness embrace like vinegar and oil - not quite but they taste good - unlike the silly media either/or of faith vs science which is like eating at McDonalds - keep it up and you'll get sick. The dream continues unconcerned as clouds looking like this like that. - dc


Yesterday went to Buddha's birthday ceremony at Genjoji which is the next ridge over and just before Shinko Laura Kwong doused us all with petals, Brendan Buss made a sax offering. As I type I'm listening to his music on MySpace/ve55el. Cool. Check it out. - dc


4-11-10 - Reading through a report called Skits and Skates posted here back in 2004 - about Clay and my vacation including our usual ten days at Tassajara. Clay was 13 then.  At one point I tell about a few silly skits Clay and I did and I remembered another one which I added to the Skits part.

Oh I just thought of another skit we did on another year, maybe the following one cause I'm adding this years later. Same setting - we're saying goodbye at morning work meeting after ten days there and I say goodbye in a strange distant monotone. Then Clay says he doesn't want to leave with me - he's visibly shaken and says he wants to stay and I call to him again monotonally, "Come Clay, time to go." And he says no, that I'm not David, I've changed, something's different. "That's not my dad," he implores. At that point a half dozen students start walking slowly toward him from the circle of eighty or so students, walking toward him and saying in strange, distant, monotones, "Don't worry Clay. Everything's alright. You should rest. You look tired. You're getting sleepy" and stuff like that and then they surround him saying, "Go to sleep Clay." After a moment they walk back to the circle leaving him lying on the ground sleeping. Then he wakes up, looks around and says in a strange, distant monotone, "Everything's fine. I'm sorry for causing trouble. I was tired. Now I'm okay. Here I come Daddy." And we leave Tassajara.


4-10-10 - A couple of interesting links to Shambhala Sun's website -

Two talks by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, from Not Always So, a book of this great Zen master's teachings. 

Between the Covers of “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” - a report on Genine Lentine's Page Project at the SFZC.


4-09-10 - Check out Jhanas Advice dot com and the book Practicing the Jhanas by Tina Rasmussen and Stephen Snyder who has helped DC in the past with Shunryu Suzuki archiving.

Shambhala link

 


Oh yes, a belated happy birthday to Buddha whose Japanese birthday was yesterday - not that he was Japanese. Here's some nifty info on how Buddh'as birthday is calculated traditionally and in various countries.


4-08-10 - Thanks to Judith Yamamoto for this brief memory of Suzuki Roshi just after their dog had been hit by a car.

MK gave some more detail to the story below about Bill Lane and he working at the SFZC bookstore.


4-07-10 - A two hour program, "Life of the Buddha", is on PBS tonight from 8 to 10 East Coast and West too I think. It's hosted by Richard Gere, and includes the Dali Lama and some others like our own Jane Hirshfield.


4-04-10 - "No man is so foolish as to desire war more than peace: for in peace sons bury their fathers, but in war fathers bury their sons.". --Herodotus - And daughters. Thanks for this Rene. - dc


4-05-10 - Mariah Carey's Hero. After seeing the movie Precious I was impressed with her (and the movie and the special features) and listened to a bunch of Carey's songs on YouTube. Not the sort of music I normally listen to but it's all good and her voice is great - with a five octave range - and this one is pretty inspiring. In her videos she mainly comes across as sexy but to me her persona in the movie was the most appealing. She funds a camp to give inner city kids a fresh air experience. I appreciate her efforts, like Opra, to empower others. A lot of people put that sort of thing down but what are they doing to help others? What are any of us? Reminds me tangentially of the time when some of Trungpa Rinpoche's students were ridiculing Guru Maharaj Ji and he told them to shutup, that at least he was giving others hope (something like that).


4-04-10 - Let's see now, where were we? Ever since I got back from Germany in mid December, I've been working on boring details with the Shunryu Suzuki archive and music and also wrote an afterword which is not a word? I guess not - for the 40th anniversary issue of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind which has an epilogue so it can't be called that. I get these nice concerned emails from friends and strangers asking if I'm okay because cuke.com's been dormant. So I'll try to put some stuff up as regularly as possible but there are other things I'm trying to get done and I get so involved and they take so much time that I haven't been able to tear myself from what I was doing. Also haven't been going on Facebook. I considered getting off it but how do you do that? And then I went on today and it wasn't so bad. And if they with Google are going to take over the world then I guess I should be on their good side. So here's what I have to do and want to do in the coming months

: Go to April 2010 Report in Dchac Misc


Kelly sends pictures of dew-covered sleeping insects.


March - Thought in lost


February - Lost in thought


January 2010


1-20-10 - Pardon the absence. Been focused on projects Shunryu and music related. The results will trickle in in time. But here are four items. -dc


Thanks to Gary Snyder for sending the following added to the Brian Victoria Page.

Kemmyo SATO  and Tom Kirchner on  D.T. Suzuki & War. — a resounding response to Brian Victoria's attacks.


Hoitsu Suzuki is godo, head teacher, at Eiheiji since last November. Amazing. Congrats.


Farewell George Leonard.

Esalen obit

NY Times obit


Lost Generation - a brief, brilliant statement with a palindrome touch, - thanks Gregory Johnson


1-08-10 - Art Exhibit of David Silva's photography at the SFZC City Center, 300 Page St. in SF tonight. A talk by Diane Renshaw: California Chaparral—A Fire-adapted Ecosystem: Friday, January 8, in conjunction with the reception.

Hi. I've been busy working on several projects and visiting Crestone Mt. ZC and mother and friends in Fort Worth. Not much time for cuke these days but there will be more to come. For now - Happy New Year. -


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