on the honorific roshi from Crooked Cucumber, p.277
When Suzuki returned from Japan, almost everyone was addressing him as Suzuki Roshi. Alan Watts had sent a donation for the purchase of the Horse Pasture and included a letter suggesting that it was time to stop calling Suzuki "reverend." Watts said it was not an appropriate title, and they were using it incorrectly anyway. He advised calling him sensei as well. They should say Suzuki Roshi and use sensei for assistants like Katagiri.
Richard and some of the others had been calling him roshi for years, but the community had not made up its mind how to address Suzuki till then. In the Wind Bells of the time one could find references to Shunryu Suzuki, Rev. or Reverend Suzuki, Suzuki Sensei, Sensei, Roshi Shunryu Suzuki, Suzuki-roshi, Suzuki Roshi, Master Suzuki, and Master of Sokoji.
Watts's suggestion came from his familiarity with Rinzai Zen, in which the title roshi really does mean something close to Zen master. In Soto Zen, roshi is used as a term of respect by priests to address older priests.
Suzuki asked why people were calling him roshi. When they told him about Alan Watts's letter, he became convulsed with laughter. His older students talked to him about it in a meeting. He protested but, after discussing it with Katagiri, finally gave in, and from then on he was Suzuki Roshi.