Cuke Audio Podcast: Recent Episodes
David Chadwick
Cuke Audio Podcast is an offering from Cuke Archives, "Preserving the legacy of Shunryu Suzuki and those whose paths crossed his," plus a variety of related and unrelated material.
Richard Jaffe was a student at the San Francisco Zen Center for years. He went on to become a leading Buddhist scholar who has spent a lot of time in Japan and knows Buddhism and especially Soto Zen there thoroughly in Japanese. He’s a professor of religion at Duke University retiring this or next year. His first book was Neither Monk nor Layman: Clerical Marriage in Modern Japanese Buddhism followed by collections of the writings of D.T. Suzuki. On Duke’s site it says: Richard Jaffe specializes in the study of Buddhism in early modern and modern Japan. In particular he has focused his research and teaching on the transformations that took place in Japanese Buddhist practice in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Jaffe's current research centers on the role of D.T. Suzuki in the globalization of Japanese Buddhism in the twentieth century. He also has questions for me later on in this podcast,
Shinshu Roberts was at the SFZC for years and 18 years ago founded the Ocean Gate Zen Center on 41st Avenue in Capitola next to Santa Cruz with her partner Jake Kinst. The website is oceangatezen.org She recently published Meeting the Myriad Things: A Zen Practitioner’s Guide to Dogen’s Genjokoan. She worked for years on the Shunryu Suzuki archives. Hear about that and more in this podcast.
June Crow began her study and practice of Buddhism in l968 when she met Shunryu Suzuki. She was known as June Omura back then. I, DC, remember her from Tassajara in the early seventies. She met Chogyam Trungpa of the Tibetan Kagyu and Nyingma lineage at Tassajara and became his student and a meditation instructor and teacher with his group. She’s still actively teaching with it today, living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Trungpa moved his Shambhala center long ago. Hear about this and more in this podcast conversation with June and me.
Helena Bee has been in charge of online programs for the San Francisco Zen Center for four years. Her practice has been centered at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center since she first went with friends as a guest. This podcast is a conversation rather than an interview.
Bob Halpern began attending session at Sokoji with Shunryu Suzuki in 1965 while living in LA where he helped Taizan Maezumi get his zendo going. He and I were best friends and troublemakers at Tassajara and sometimes in the city. We went over all that thoroughly in a podcast years ago. In this podcast he tells about becoming a Chogyam Trungpa student in 1971 and being his first personal attendant. He brings us up to the present time where he finally calmed down and for twenty years has been running morning and early evening meditation for the Shambhala group in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Trungpa moved his center to in 1986.
Gerald Weischede was one of Richard Baker’s first German students. They met in Germany at a workshop or seminar that Baker was giving. Gerald went to Santa Fe to study with Baker when he had his center there and later, with the help of his wife Gisela helped Baker get Crestone Zen Mt. Center going. He was the first director and first shuso. He and Gisela for 20 years have led a Zen community called Lebendiges Zen in Göttingen, Germany. He’s also a psychotherapist and teaches in a university and has published five books. In this podcast he talks about all this and more.
This is a follow-up podcast with Robert Britton, Bob to me, in which he focuses, using his many decades of applying the Alexander technique to sitting. He was at the SF Zen Center for ten years. He became an Alexander teacher and still is. For 39 years he applied what he’d learned from the Alexander technique at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music helping musicians sit, hold and use their instruments so that they don’t create physical problems. He’s helped many people at Zen Center and beyond in how to sit, stand, walk in a healthy way. Learn about Bob Britton and sitting—and more—in this podcast with him.
DC (me) tells more Tassajara stories as an addendum to the to the Tuesday Dec. 9 SFZC Zoom event with Edward Brown answering participants questions we didn’t get to and elaborating as I do in podcasts. Find link to Dec. 9 Zoom event, A Night of Tassajara Stories, at cuke.com/TOC-DC.htm.
Robert Britton, Bob to me, was at the SF Zen Center for ten years. He became an Alexander teacher and still is. For 39 years he applied what he’d learned from the Alexander method (if I can call it that) at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music helping musicians sit, hold. and use their instruments so that they don’t create physical problems. He’s helped many people at Zen Center and beyond in how to sit, stand, walk in a healthy way. Learn about it in this podcast with him.
Kirk Rhoads spent years at the SF Zen Center then moved to Yaizu Japan where Shunryu Suzuki’s home temple Rinsoin is located. In this podcast he talks about how his path led to Zen, his years at Zen Center and Japan where he became close with Hoitsu and Chitose Suzuki, and his return to America. He also talks about the Kent Rhoads Foundation which he founded in honor of his late brother. The purpose of it is to provide support so that more people can afford to attend Zen retreats and practice periods, a noble goal. See kentrhoadsfoundation.org/
Mary Mocine had visited Tassajara a couple of times but her first practice experience was at a mindfulness retreat with Yvonne Rand at Green Gulch. She was at Zen Center for a number of years and in this podcast she also shares experiences with various teachers and temples in Japan. She had a sitting group in Vallejo for a couple of decades.
Barton Stone joined Shunryu Suzuki for zazen very early on. He's a peace activist, expert carpenter, gardener, poet, and now practices Zen with with the Stone Creek Zen Center in Graton, CA. We'll have the phone chat, read his poems and an old interview. - This is an encore presentation from an August 29, 2020 podcast when Cuke Podcast was only five months old.
Rick McDaniel has written nine books on Zen, the last of which is to be published by Monkfish title Original Face. He’s done hundreds of interviews with Zen folks all over America and Canada where he lives. His website is titled Richard Bryan McDaniel - Zen Conversations and Profiles and is found at rbmcdaniel.ca. Listen to the podcast and learn how all this came to be.
Taiyo Lipscomb came to the Zen Center in the mid seventies and was there for 23 years, becoming one of the folks who run the place. His story is unique as is he. Listen to the podcast and you’ll see.
John Liles is a long time student of the Atlanta Zen Center. In this podcast we hear about it and its founder Soyu Matsuoka and he tells about an inspiring time he had for a month at Tassajara this recent summer.
DC talks about the three weeks he and his wife Katrinka spent at Dharma Sangha's Zen Center in the Black Forest, a visit with Vanja Palmers at his home on Mt. Rigi in Switzerland just below Felsentor, the Zen practice center he founded. And more.
Every day for many years, we at Cuke Archives have posted daily lecture excerpts. They're all over the place in terms of representing Suzuki's teaching, how much context is missing, or how appealing they are. I comment on all this. - DC
At Dharma Sangha's Zen Buddhist Center in the Black Forest with Katrinka for three weeks. Talk about spending time with Zentatsu Richard Baker and Tatsudo Nicole Baden and some mundane stuff.
Barrie Mottishaw is a landscape artist who spent years at the Jones Farm on Quadra Island, a Zen community that was started by students at the San Francisco Zen Center. Learn about that and more in this podcast with her.
Just what it says in the title - DC reads the Preface to Tassajara Stories. Full title - Tassajara Stories: a Sort of Memoire/Oral History of the first Zen Buddhist Monastery in the West--the First Year--1967. Publishing date for the book/audio book/ebook is S3ptember 23, 2025. Go to cuke.com to read reviews and so forth.
Ted Howell came to the SFZC in the mid-seventies and stuck around a long time. In this podcast, part two of two, he talks about his time at the SF Zen Center and a good deal more..
Ted Howell came to the SFZC in the mid-seventies and stuck around a long time. In this podcast, part one of two, he talks about what he's up to these days, his relationship with squirrels and crows, what transpired on his way to Zen Center, his arrival there and the first thing he learned - having to do with footwear. One point of interest is about his early acting training and relationship with Robin Williams.
Peter Ford started helping with Cuke Archives in 2012, maybe earlier. Not sure. Since the day he started he's been pretty much full time. For a number of years he's been the Managing Director of Cuke Archives. Thanks to Peter I can concentrate on special projects. In the podcast we talk about the work he's done and his way-seeking mind story. Nine bows to Peter for all he's done and continues doing. - dc
Marsha Angus has been a therapist for many in and out of the SFZC realm for decades. She received lay ordination in 1979 from Richard Baker, was shuso at SFZC in 2007 and received lay entrustment in 2010 from Dairyu Michael Wenger. She started practicing at Green Gulch Farm in 1975. She lives in Mill Valley with her partner, Kiku Christina Lehnherr. Listen to the podcast and learn more.
August 17, 2025, 80th anniversary of Indonesia 's Independence from the Netherlands. Ketut, Kadek, and I attend a sunrise concert of jazz great Indra Lesmana at the beach in front of Bali Beach Hotel and I DC reminisce about when Katrinka and I used to live in that area and free associate some.
Adam Beck was living at Tassajara before the SF Zen Center bought it in December of 66 from his parents. He was two at the time. He's an artist now living in San Anselmo. I've known him through the ensuing years so we've got a lot to say to each other and he's got a lot to say about Tassajara, Suzuki, Baker, and more in this podcast. Also at the first I apologize for an errata in the prior Beginner's Mind podcast.
Meiya Wender has practiced at Zen Center since 1972, was ordained as a priest in 1986 (receiving the name Luminous Night, Original Practice, Meiya Honshu), and received Dharma Transmission in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 2002. She has also trained in traditional Soto Zen forms at Zuioji in Shikoku, Japan. She has held many monastic positions at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center and Green Gulch, including director, ino (head of the zendo), tenzo (head cook), and tanto (head of practice). She has studied the Way of Tea for many years, including a year at the Urasenke Midorikai program in Kyoto, and teaches Tea in Sowing the Moon Teahouse at Green Gulch. - from the SFZC site
DC reads all extant Shunryu Suzuki on Beginner's Mind, discusses the origins and its spread far beyond the sphere of Buddhism.
Upasama (formerly Reuven be Yuhmin) was a student of Shunryu Suzuki, a great gardener at Tassajara , who's been living in a Theravada monastery near Perth, Australia, for the last twelve years. This is the second podcast with Upasama.
Diane Renshaw began Zen practice at Tassajara in 1978, received lay ordination in 1993, and has been working with Tassajara on a native plant project for 25 years. Diane lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is an experienced botanist, birdwatcher, and ecologist. In this podcast we hear about her life as a scientist and a Buddhist--and more.
Renshin Bunce began practicing with Steve Stucky in 1994. In 2013 she received dharma transmission from him. Her website is renshinbunce.com. Go there for info on her in-person and Zoom sitting groups. She's published three books on Amazon that one can find listed under her name - on Steve Stucky, hospice work, and practicing at Tassajara. Her cuke.com page has links to her many photos or go to flickr.com/photos/renshin. Listen to this podcast to learn lots more.
Rinso Ed Sattizahn first came to the SF Zen Center in 1970, had a few memorable experiences with Shunryu Suzuki, and returned in 1972. He lived at Tassajara for years, was VP and president of the SFZC, went into the high tech world for over seventeen years, returned to the SF Bay area, got ordained, co-founded Vimala Sangha in Mill Valley with Lew Richmond, was a co-abbot then center abbot of the SFZC for nine years. In this podcast he talks about that and much more.
Kelly Chadwick talks about a week spent at Tassajara in April trimming and removing trees with a crew from his Spirit Pruners biz in Spokane, WA. He was a podcast guest last year after doing the same at Tassajara. He's got new insights to share about Tassajara where he spent a lot of time growing up. Full disclosure--he's my son. - DC
Ben Van Overmeire is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Duke Kunshan University. His research focuses on the study of Zen Buddhist texts. His teaching interests at Duke Kunshan include ethics and leadership, global China studies, religion and literature. Van Overmeire has a B.A. (cum laude) and M.A. He wrote American Koan: Imagining Zen and Self in Autobiographical Literature. In this podcast we talk about his book (which features my Thank You and OK!) and how his path has taken him from his native Belgium through the US and to China. - dc
Furyu Nancy Schroeder came to the SF Zen Center in the seventies. She was the abbess of Green Gulch Farm from 2014 to 2023
and has been an active supporter of programs for children, people of color, the gay and lesbian community, and the interfaith community. In 2008 she was elected to the Marin Women's Hall of Fame, and in 2010 she was appointed to the Board of the Marin Community Foundation. In addition, she has previously co-led SF Zen Center's Contemplative Caregiver Course. She received Dharma Transmission from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1999. That's from the SFZC bio on her. In this podcast she talks about how she got into Zen and what's happened since and other stuff.
Sokaku Kathie Fischer began practicing Zen in 1971 with Sojun Mel Weitsman at the Berkeley Zen Center. She was ordained a Zen priest at San Francisco Zen Center in 1980 by Zentatsu Richard Baker, and continued residential practice at Zen Center for 15 more years. She received Dharma transmission from Sojun Weitsman in 2011 while in the midst of her 28-year career as a school teacher in Mill Valley. Since retiring from teaching science to adolescents she has turned her attention to studying and teaching Dharma. Kathie and her husband Norman are parents of adult twin sons and grandparents of three children.. That's the SFZC bio on her. In this podcast we hit on various topics , one of them being Richard Baker. This was recorded soon before Baker's stroke from which he's recovering nicely.
Jiryu Mark Rutschman-Byler is the abbot of Green Gulch Farm as a co-abbot of the SF Zen Center. In the podcast he talks about Becoming Yourself, an upcoming book of Shunryu Suzuki lectures that he worked on with Mel Weitsman. First he talks briefly about Nicole Baden and Richard Baker's recent stay at the City Center and Green Gulch and Baker's stroke of a week ago. He reads selections from Becoming Yourself: Teachings on the Zen Way of Life and we talk about that and more. Most enjoyable.
Barbara Horn came to the SFZC in the mid seventies, practiced Insight Meditation with Jack Kornfield at Barr, Mass., studied cooking with Julia Childs, got a graduate degree in mediation and interfaith chaplaincy. She volunteered for the 911 rescue and recovery effort and founded Calling of the Names - callingofthenames.org. Listen to this podcast and learn more about this energetic and benevolent woman.
Tatsudo Nicole Baden is a Dharma Successor of Zentatsu Baker in the Dharma Sangha Soto Zen Lineage. Last September Richard Baker passed on the abbotship of Dharma Sangha in Germany and the US to Nicole. In this podcast she will be talking about the Launch of the Dharma Academy with a free and open event on the weekend of May 23-25--Engaging the Heart of Wisdom and Pathways for Meeting Uncertainty. Participating dharma teachers include Zentatsu Richard Baker, Joan Halifax, Jiryu Rutschuman-Byler, Valerie Brown, Ryuten Paul Rosenblum, Rahshaana Green, Sarabinh Levy-Brightman, Ravi Welch, Lien Shutt, and Tatsudo Nicole Baden. Learn more about the event and sign up at
https://courses.dharmaacademy.com/launch-event
Jean Ross began studying with Shunryu Suzuki very soon after he arrived in San Francisco. In this podcast, the second of two on her, I read more from her accounts in the Wind Bell publication of the SFZC about her experience studying Zen in Japan in the early sixties - and more. The podcast concludes with a piece I wrote about her for the Wind Bell in 1997.
Jean Ross began studying with Shunryu Suzuki very soon after he arrived in San Francisco. In this podcast, the first of two on her, I read from what's in Crooked Cucumber and what she wrote about her experience studying Zen in Japan in the early sixties - at Eiheiji, Sojiji, and more.
Wendy Pirsig was for thirty years an archivist and writer featuring extensive web-based history for small Old Berwick Historical Society's Counting House Museum in Maine. She's a student of Myozen Joan Amaral at the Zen Center North Shore in Beverly, Massachusetts. She's done extensive work for Cuke Archives working on verbatim and minimum edit Shunryu Suzuki lectures and carefully scrutinizing DC writings and making sage suggestions. A few years ago she compiled and edited a posthumously published a book of her late husband Robert Pirsig's works: On Quality: An Inquiry Into Excellence: Unpublished and Selected Writings. See more at cuke.com/people/pirsig-wendy including a long piece on her and Robert's six weeks with the SFZC following the murder of her stepson Chris's murder in the neighborhood.
Ryuko Laura Burges is a lay entrusted Dharma teacher in the Soto Zen tradition, teaches classes and lectures and leads retreats in Northern California. - that's from her SFZC bio. In this, her 3rd podcast, Laura tells a story from her latest book: Wisdom Stories of Tibet: Tales of Magic, Adventure, and Bravery. She also tells a Tassajara story and talks about her book on Recovery.
Andy Karr began his formal Buddhist practice in 1971 at the SF Zen Center with Shunryu Suzuki after having devoured Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind many times. In early 1972 he began studying with Chogyam Trungpa. He has written three books, the latest one being Into the Mirror: A Buddhist Journey Through Mind, Matter, and the Nature of Reality. He has been teaching Tibetan Buddhism for years focusing on clearly understanding Mahamudra, Yogachara, Madhyamaka, and so forth. Learn more about him and his teaching at andykarrauthor.com
Neil Needs a Nudge - Tyson on Religion Stuck in the Literal - The title says it all. I rap on that some more and urge him to talk with me about this topic - not that there wouldn't be a zillion others more qualitied - but I'm asking and could suggest a broader approach so that his audience isn't misled.
Sarah Wormald was a diver who wrote Diving in Indonesia: The Ultimate Guide to the World's Best Dive Spots: Bali, Komodo, Sulawesi, Papua, and more. This podcast is a replay of two podcasts that Sarah did with me. Farewell Sarah. Sorry you died so young--at 44. We will miss you. Love, DC
Was it a bunch of hippies who helped Suzuki found Tassajara and who filled the zendo in the city. I look at this briefly. There's a lot more I could say but I decided to think about how to approach the topic better. Then I talk about unusual experience. It ends with a riff on current events.
Are We Part of It or the whole or what? Reading two Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts and commenting then talking about what I'm going to do when this podcast is loaded.
Kokyo (AKA Luminous Owl) Henkel is a Soto Zen priest who came to the SF Zen Center in 1990 and is currently leading a practice period at Green Gulch Farm. He and his wife Shoho Kuebast founded the Bright Window Hermitage on Tassajara Road. Check it out at brightwindowhermitage.weebly.com. In his college years Kokyo was a dedicated Deadhead. Listen to this podcast with him and learn more.
Marta Dabis is the founding priest of Jissoji Zen Ann Arbor with a lot of experience in Buddhist chaplaincy. She practiced at the SF Zen Center for some years starting in 2007. She has had teachers in the Suzuki and Katagiri lineages. Hear all about it in this podcast with her.
This is the second podcast reading examples of Shunryu Suzuki's use of the phrase "most important." He often used the phrase "most important.," usually in "the most important point" or "the most important thing." Reading from a page on cuke.com that includes every instance of these words in Suzuki lectures as found in the 2010 transcript collection. There have been additions to the Suzuki lecture archive since then, so this collection should be updated. You can find it at cuke.com/Cucumber%20Project/lectures/most-important.htm
Bob Watkins and his wife Sandy arrived at Tassajara not long after we bought it and were there for nine months. We hated to see them go. Bob was the work leader in the first practice period and until he departed. Later he was ordained by Kobun Chino and with Kobun co-founded Hokkyoji in Arroyo Seco above Taos, NM. In this podcast I read a piece I wrote on Bob after he died in 2016. It includes many of his memories of Shunryu Suzuki and Kobun Chino.
I first met Jesse Wiens Chu at Tassajara about twenty years ago. Now he and his wife Catherine live around the corner. They both have extensive training in Buddhist practice and are NVC teachers - and more. Learn about them and their practice at babatree.org and check out their book Ongo and ongobook.com. Learn about all that and more in this podcast with Jesse. - dc
Getting irritated by the simplistic approach toward "religion" from famous atheists like Neil deGrasse Tyson, I turn to Chat GPT. Not incidentally, I love listening to Tyson when he knows what he's talking about. The first time this podcast went up it got corrupted. This is a rectified version.
Shunryu Suzuki often used the phrase "most important.," usually in "the most important point" or "the most important thing." In this podcsat DC reads from a page that includes every instance of these words in Suzuki lectures as found in the 2010 transcript collection. There have been additions to the Suzuki lecture archive since then, so this collection should be updated. You can find it at cuke.com/Cucumber%20Project/lectures/most-important.htm
Eiheiji monks chant the Heart Sutra. Shunryu Suzuki's basic meaning of the kanji from the Sokoji chant care. I play it for a bed-ridden Japanese man raised Soto-shu in a retirement home.
Dor Ben-Amotz is a science professor who, in this podcast, talks about his experience teaching a course in Buddhism and Meditation at Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont. He also speaks about how he got into Buddhism and meditation, his time at Green Gulch Farm, and more. Here's a link to the syllabus on the course he taught: https://cuke.com/pdf-2015/Fun_Buddhism_Slides.pdf
Peter Schneider began sitting at Sokoji in 1963. He was ordained as a priest by Shunryu Suzuki in 1970 and received transmission from Mel Weitsman. He was at Tassajara for the first years as office manager, then director for a few years, Suzuki's attendant. He and his wife Jane got together there. They lived in Japan many years and on their return to America, founded the Beginner's Mind Zen Center in Northridge, CA, part of LA. Peter, born in 1937, died on January 4, 2025. Go to their cuke page for more and for links to the cuke podcasts with them. cuke.com/people/schneider-jane-peter.htm
Pseudo Dionysius was a 5th century Syrian monk who wrote in Greek The Mystical Theology, his most famous work. It's like the Heart Sutra of Christianity, the via negativa, the neti neti (not this not that) of Advaita Vedanta. An appropriate reading for the holiday season.
Michael Stusser founded the Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary in Freestone CA with it's hot cedar enzyme baths. In this podcast he talks about being an apprentice with master gardener Alan Chadwick and with the head gardener of Myoshinji in Kyoto, meeting Shunryu Suzuki, studying with Kobun Chino and Chogyam Trungpa, gardening for years at the Farallones Institute in Occidental CA and more.
This is an encore presentation of a podcast done in January of 2022 with Dennis Marshall who died this November of 2024 just two days before his 93rd birthday. Listen to yesterday's podcast for DC reading his obit from the Crestone Mt Zen Center and his cuke interview. Dennis Marshall was born in Yorkshire, England 93 years ago. About forty years later he went to a lecture at the City Center of the SFZC and was right away sold on Suzuki and the general communal feeling there. About thirty-three years ago he moved to Crestone, Colorado, and since then had been involved with Richard Baker and Dharma Sangha. See his cuke page at cuke.com/Cucumber%20Project/interviews/marshall.html
Dennis Marshall first showed up at the SF Zen Center in 1970. He died in November two days short of 93. In this brief podcast I read the Crestone Mt. ZC news obituary for him and then emails between us that became his Cuke Interview. His January 2022 Cuke Podcast will be presented next, hopefully tomorrow. - dc
Betty Warren started practicing with Shunryu Suzuki shortly after he arrived from Japan and continued her practice till she died at 89 in 2006. She was a science teacher, anti-war activist, and vision quester. In this podcast I read an interview I did with her thirty years ago - and more. - dc
Della Goertz began her practice with Shunryu Suzuki soon after he arrived in America in 1959. Herein we read from a notebook she kept with brief quotes and paraphrases from his talks and her encounters with him. There's a great deal on her at cuke.com/people/goertz.htm.
On keeping in touch with those who are ill or isolated. Visiting my monk friend. Visiting a Japanese neighbor now in a convalescent clinic, a touching experience. Visiting Katrinka on the way home and sharing her birthday cake. Chatting with ChaptGPT.
Gene DeSmidt was a dear friend of mine and the SF Zen Center who died on October 30th. Gene was a creative builder who left behind a number of sound structures at Tassajara and Green Gulch. He was also a musician who helped me muchly in that realm. He was a great character and a humorous, generous, good-hearted person. Learn more at cuke.com/others/GDS.html and gofundme.com/f/gene-desmidt-needs-your-help. - dc
DC riffs on not worrying excessively about undocumented immigrants and the ongoing election.
Susan Ross is an illustrator and artist who worked on Be Here Now. In this podcast she takes us from her native Ohio to Smith College to Woodstock to New Mexico, to Shunryu Suzuki's funeral with Gary Snyder and David Padwa, to Colorado studying with Trungpa Rinpoche. She's in Mexico now still being an artist, practicing Tibetan Buddhism, and working on turtle rescue. Here website is
susanrosscreative.com.
This podcast is a talk I gave and meeting with the All Beings Zen Sangha in Washington DC. On October 19th. Inryu Ponce-Barger is the teacher of this group and their website is allbeingszen.org. The focus of the group right now and therefore of the talk is the Sandokai, an ancient Chinese Zen poem that is chanted at the SF Zen Center. I talk about being at Tassajara when Shunryu Suzuki lectured on it and studying it with him. There's a page on cuke.com for the Sandokai: cuke.com/Cucumber%20Project/lectures/sandokai.htm - DC
Silas Hoadley began studying with Shunryu Suzuki in 1964. He was highly involved with the founding of Tassajara. Suzuki had Silas giving lectures when Suzuki was ill toward the end of his life. He would have received transmission from Suzuki if Suzuki hadn't died too soon. Silas was a much beloved priest in the SFZC. In this podcast I read a 1994 interview with Silas and a scene with him from the upcoming Tassajara Stories. Check out more about Silas at cuke.com/people/hoadley-silas.htm
I talk about my recent month spent at Dharma Sangha's ZBZS , their Zen Buddhist center in the Black Forest. The high point of the trip was the passing of the abbotship of Dharma Sangha Germany and America from Zentatsu Richard Baker to Tatsudo Nicole Baden.
This is an encore presentation of a May 2023 podcast with Alan Senauke, the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. and author of "Turning Words, Transformative Encounters with Buddhist Teachers." He has a long involvement with Buddhist peace work and music. --- The new introduction to this podcast tells about Alan's heart attack, coma, and recovery which has enabled him to return to teaching and lecturing while being confined to bed and wheelchair. Learn more in the intro to the podcast and at caringbridge.org/site/5f8e9c7a-e151-381f-8185-b311c544e39b> and gofundme.com/f/help-hozan-with-essential-home-care. More on Alan at cuke.com/people/senauke-alan.htm.
Bill Porter is a translator and interpreter of Chinese Buddhist and Taoist poetry and texts, with books on Chinese Hermits and travel. His pen name is Red Pine. Learn more about Bill on his Wikipedia page, on cuke.com, and at redpinemovie.com. This podcast is an encore presentation of a talk with Bill Porter from August 8, 2020.
Vanja Palmers is a Zen teacher who was at the SFZC centers for years, ordained by Richard Baker, transmission from Kobun Chino. He talks about his life, his way-seeking mind story, work with animal rights, and psychedelics, and dangerous hang gliding. He has a center in the Alps near Lucerne named Felsentor and the Ecumenical House of Silence he and Brother David Steindl-rast founded in Austria. This is an encore presentation of a June 2020 podcast.
Ryuten Paul Rosenblum was a student of Shunryu Suzuki and is the vice abbot of Johanneshof, Richard Baker's retreat in the Black Forest. He lives half time in Germany and half time in Northern California. His website is ryutenpaulrosenblum.com. This is an encore presentation of a podcast from July 2020.
Tatsudo Nicole Baden is a Dharma Successor of Zentatsu Baker in the Dharma Sangha Soto Zen Lineage. She has been practicing Zen since 2001 and received Dharma Transmission in 2017. She graduated as a psychologist from the University of Oldenburg in 2008. She also trained at the ‘School for Body Mind Centering’ for four years. Since 2009 she has been living and practicing either at the Crestone Mountain Zen Center or at the Zen Buddhist Center Schwarzwald (ZBZS) in Germany. At present, she is Director and a resident teacher at the ZBZS. Early this September Richard Baker will be stepping down and Nicole Baden will be stepping up to be the abbot of Dharma Sangha in Germany and the US. This is an encore presentation of a podcast talk with Nicole that was posted on March 20, 2021.
Kelly Bernard Chadwick grew up in and around Tassajara, the SFZC City Center, and Green Gulch Farm. He is my older son. His mother is my first wife, Daya Goldschlag, called Dianne back in 1973 when Kelly was born at Green Gulch Farm. Dianne has a Zen group now in Spokane Washington and Kelly is an arborist in Spokane and has a business there called Spirit Pruners -
Jane and Peter Schneider are the founding teachers of the Beginner's Mind Zen Center in Northridge, a part of greater Los Angeles.
Stephan Bodian runs an annual school for awakening. In this podcast he talks about his spiritual path, his teachers including Shunryu Suzuki, Kobun Chino, Taizan Maezumi, Sogyal, and Jean Klein. He's a marriage and family therapist but mainly a teacher of awakening. His website is stephanbodian.org.
Frank Kilmer first meditated with Chogyam Trungpa then Dainin Katagiri then Richard Baker. He studied with other Zen and Tibetan teachers. He lives in Santa Fe where he managed Upaya's plant for some years. He's a a great plumber too. He has a lot of juicy tidbits to share from all these years of Buddhist study and practice. Check him out in this podcast.
Frazer Bradshaw was a student at Tassajara in the summers for years, starting off when he was still a student at the SF Art Inst. He'd made some experimental films and at Tassajara he made his first documentary, Tassajara: a Meditative Portrait at Tassajara in the late nineties. It's in his Vimeo section with 209 others
Suzanne Suarez Hurley heard Shunryu Suzuki give lectures in 1969 then joined Steve Gaskin as a founding member of the Farm in Tennessee. In 1975 she practiced with Dainin Katagiri in Minneapolis then headed back to SF to practice at the SF Zen Center with Richard Baker. With Baker's blessing she started a sitting group in Florida where she practiced law defending midwives. Through the years she has continued her connection to Zen and the Farm. She talks about all this and more in her podcast.
David Weinstein is the founding teacher of the Rockridge Meditation Community in Oakland, California. (See their Facebook page) He's a teacher in the Pacific Zen Institute and a therapist (check Psychology Today website "Find a therapist.") His spiritual journey started in a bar in Germany. His path led to Nepal, Afghanistan, Iran, India, Korea, Japan, Hawaii, and the Bay Area. Listen to his podcast and hear his story.
Teresa Rivera started reading books about Eastern religion while living in France. She liked them but they didn't tell her what to do, how to practice. She found what she wss looking for when she started sitting with Taisen Deshimaru's group in France. In 1973 she arrived at the San Francisco Zen Center. Before long she was living at Tassajara She practiced for years at Green Gulch and worked for years at the SFZC's Greens Restaurant all the while raising three kids. She just turned 90 and is living in a retirement home in San Diego. Here about all that and more in this podcast with her.
Myphon Hunt arrived at the San Francisco Zen Center in the early seventies after five years living at The Farm in Tennessee founded by Steve Gaskin. She's now living at the Enso Village retirement community in Healdsburg north of San Francisco along with other senior Zennies, Vipassana Buddhists, and Quakers. Along the way she spent some time in Dharamsala and Tibet, studying with Joshu Sasaki's group in LA and New Mexico, as well as other pursuits. Hear about that and more in this charming podcast visit with Myphon.
Tim Ream came to the SF Zen Center in the nineties. He has continued his Zen practice, alternating between practice periods and periods of environmental activism. He recently published a book Fallen Water: a Novel of Zen and Earth which has an alternate reality Tassajara and the surrounding wilderness as a setting. In this podcast he will talk about the book, his spiritual path and environmental activism and more.
Cindy Beavon came to the SFZC in 2007 going straight to Tassajara. She practiced at Zen Center until 2011 when she had an upsetting experience that made her feel unwelcome. She went back this year for the work interim and once again loved being there. She's a hospice nurse and a professional rock climber which became a deep and fulfilling practice for her. Hear all about it in this podcast with her.
Marc Lesser came to the SFZC in 1974. After ten years with the ZC and being the director of Tassajara, he got an MBA, continued his Zen practice while working with and founding some noble businesses. He founded ZBA Associates to help companies, notably Google, with mindfulness and emotional intelligence training and consultation. He is co-chair of the SFZC Elders Council, is teacher at Mill Valley Zen (millvalleyzen.com). His latest book of five is Finding Clarity. To learn more check him out at marclesser.net and listen to this podcast with him.
Jon Bernie came to the SF Zen Center in 1973 and practiced there for years. In this podcast he talks about his relationships with Richard Baker, Brother David Steindl Rast, Papaji (Punjaji), Adyashanti, Robert Adams, Mike Murphey of Esalen Inst., psychic Anne Armstrong, and others. He was an Alexander Technique therapist for years and now teaches Inspired Aliveness. His website is inspiredaliveness.com. Here about all this and more on his cuke podcast.
Amber Hoadley was the first baby at Tassajara in the Zen era. In this podcast she talks about growing up at Zen Center, mainly Green Gulch, and her parents, Kathy and Silas Hoadley who were a significant presence in Zen Center in those formative days. Amber also talks about her practice path and more. She will be hosting a memorial for Silas on Father's Day, June 16th from 3-7pm, at the Mostly Natives Nursery, 54 B St., Point Reyes Station, California.
Dan Kaplan came to the SF Zen Center in the mid seventies and plugged away there for ten years. He still lives in the neighborhood and has been a student of David Weinstein in the Yamada/Aitkin lineage for years. He's a LMFT, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. In this podcast he talks about his spiritual and therapist life, Harry Roberts, Lama Govinda, and Vina Yoga too. His website is danielmkaplan.com
Denis Myo Lahey is the abbot of the Hartford Street Zen Center in San Francisco and has been since 2002. He first came to the SF Zen Center in 1970. Listen to this podcast on the path his life has taken.
Tom White is a friend of mine from Texas who visited me at Tassajara with his wife before the first practice period on their way to the Philippines to spend a couple of years there in the Peace Corps. While living on Whidbey Island in the NW US, he got involved with the One Drop Zendo founded by Shodo Harada from Sogenji in Japan. Here about all this and more in this podcast.
This is the third Cuke podcast with Ed Brown is the author of several books, including The Tassajara Bread Book, Tassajara Cooking, No Recipe: Cooking as Spiritual Practice, and he also edited the book of Suzuki Roshi lectures, Not Always So. He was ordained as a Zen priest by Suzuki Roshi in 1971, he received Dharma Transmission from Mel Weitsman in 1996. Ed is the founder and teacher of the Peaceful Sea Sangha
Zesho Susan O'Connell was ordained and given transmission by Reb Anderson. She was VP and president of the SF Zen Center for ten years. She came up with the idea of the Enso Village retirement community and made it a reality. She had a 25 year career in the film biz before coming to ZC and produced ten ZC related films. She's been instrumental in promoting the ZC digitizing and archiving thousands of ZC lecture recordings. Here what she has to say about a lot of this and more in this podcast.
Gil Fronsdal is the senior guiding co-teacher at the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) in Redwood City, California and the Insight Retreat Center in Santa Cruz, California. He started Buddhist practice in 1975 at the San Francisco Zen Center, and has been teaching for IMC since 1990. Gil is an authorized teacher in two traditions: the Insight Meditation lineage of Theravada Buddhism of Southeast Asia, and Japanese Soto Zen. He holds a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Stanford. He is a founder of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies. He is a husband and the father of two sons .Thanks for that Wikipedia. In this podcast, Gil takes us on his way-seeking mind journey.
Tai Sheridan showed up at the SFZC in the late sixties. He practiced at Tassajara in 1971 and later at Green Gulch Farm. He was close to Mel Weitsman and the Berkeley Zendo for years. while He's written many books including Buddha in Blue Jeans that are available for free as ebooks. Recently he created a distillation of his writings into five books available from cuke.com for free download. He encourages a donation to Cuke Archives if one is so inclined. To download these new books search for Tai Sheridan on cuke.com or go to the bibliography. To donate just click on the donate button on the home and many other pages of cuke.com and shunryusuzuki.com. Find out more at taisheridan.com and listen to this podcast.
Ned Hoke was on Esalen Inst. staff when Shunryu Suzuki led a two day workshop there in 1968. After that, Ned came to Tassajara in the summers as a student. He's been an acupuncturist for forty years. In this podcast he talks about that, we talk about Bolinas, he tells about bringing Suzuki's headstone up to the hogback.
Steve Silberman came to the SF Zen Center in 1979 and worked with me, DC, at Greens Restaurant.. He's a writer for Wired Magazine. He talks about his bestselling Neurotribes: the Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity. He also wrote Skeleton Key A Dictionary for Deadheads.He talks about all this and more in this podcast. He has done his homework.
Sheridan Adams, formerly Sheridan Ericson, came to Zen Center in 1965. She was at the first practice period at Tassajara. She practiced Vipassana at Spirit Rock and was involved with studying and encouraging diversity there and elsewhere for years. She's going to retire as a psychotherapist next year. As you will hear in this podcast, she's stayed on a spiritual path through the years.
Alan Rabold's Buddhist study began before he came to the SF Zen Center in 1968 and continued on with Maezumi, long solo retreats, to Boulder and Trungpa and more. He had a career as a schoolteacher and a photographer. See alanrabold.com and get a copy of his beautiful book of photographs, Appreciating the World, and check him out on Instagram. He's teaching meditation these dats at Naropa University. In this podcast he talks about all that and more.
Peter Coyote is a Zen teacher, writer, activist, actor, and that's just a start. Check him out on cuke.com, at petercoyote.com, and in this podcast.
John Steiner came to the San Francisco Zen Center in 1967 a few months before the first practice period at Tassajara and participate in that practice period. His involvement with peace and environmental work began before then and continues to this day as does his spiritual path. These days he's focusing on getting young people and minorities registered to vote. In this podcast he talks about how he got on the so-called spiritual path and the engaged one and more. This is the 2nd of two podcasts with John.
John Steiner came to the San Francisco Zen Center in 1967 a few months before the first practice period at Tassajara and participate in that practice period. I recall him and Bill Lane being the trash collectors and moving materials around. His involvement with peace and environmental work began before then and continues to this day as does his spiritual path. These days he's focusing on getting young people and minorities registered to vote. In this podcast he talks about all this and more. Next week we'll continue our dialogue with John, my dear bodhisattvic friend.
Rick Wicks went to Tassajara briefly in 1971 . He returned there to practice in 1974. In this podcast he tells about living in Sweden for decades, traveling extensively in Asia and Europe, being at Zen Center, and more. He's got a doctorate in economics and is a consultant in that realm. He's worn lots of different hats. He calls himself a successful autistic in the podcast. There's a great deal on and from him on cuke.com.
Rhonda Johansen Karzag was at Tassajara with her parents for three summers when she was in elementary school. In this podcast she talks about what that was like for her and reads from an account of it she wrote for school when she was in the fourth grade. You can read it while listening if you go to her mother, Toni Johansen Weisberg's cuke page where there's a link to it - in her excellent young handwriting.
Last week's guest, Toni (Johansen) Weisberg, reads from the notebook she created in 1966 at the request of Shunryu Suzuki - with some comments from him. She calls it Mad Monkey Mind.
Toni Weisberg was Toni Johansen in her Zen Center days. She and her husband Tony came to the SFZC in 1965. In this podcast she talks about how they got there, her close relationship with Shunryu Suzuki, and more.
Lynne Lockie, then Warkov, came to Sokoji in 1960 with her husband Saul Warkov. She was a founder of the Minneapolis Zen Meditation Center in Minneapolis that invited Dainin Katagiri to be their teacher. She became a psychoanalyst and retired recently from teaching mindfulness at the New College in Sarasota., Florida. She is still involved in contemplative practice.
Linda Hess came to the SF Zen Center in 1974 after a decade of studies and seeking in India. She has continued returning to India through the years. She became a senior lecturer emeritus at Stanford University in religious studies. She's written three books focusing on the poet Kabir and translating his songs/poems and is working on another. The Bijak of Kabir 1983, Bodies of Song, Kabir Oral Traditions and Performative Worlds in North India - 2015. Emptiness. Kumar Gandharva performs the poetry of Kabir. She and husband Kazuaki Tanahashi live in Berkeley. She tells about all that and her life in this podcast.
John Nelson was for years a Professor of East Asian religions in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of San Francisco. He is the author of Experimental Buddhism: Innovation and Activism in Contemporary Japan. His studies and teaching have included a good deal on Zen. In this podcast he talks about experiences and observations in Japan, Indonesia, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and more. Check out his blog Far West Passage: Experimental Views on Asia, Buddhism, and the Awakening Mind at
Stuart Lachs was at the first practice period at Tassajara. and has practiced with many other groups through the years. including two years with Eido Shimano and eleven years with Walter Nowick. Check out his website Zen Perspectives: Commentaries on Zen and Society - https://lachs.inter-link.com and learn more about him in this podcast.
JJ Wilson founded the Women's Studies program at Sonoma State U. Her husband Phillip Wilson was one of Shunryu Suzuki's early ordained disciples. They came to Sokoji , Suzuki's SF temple, in 1961. She wrote her thesis on Virginia Wolf there and is a leading authority on Virginia Wolf.
Daigaku Rumme is the teacher at the Confluence Zen Center (confluencezen.org) in Maplewood, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. He was ordained by and received transmission from Seikkei Harada and practiced for 27 years at Hosshinji in Obama, Japan. He was with the Soto Zen International Center for seven years while living at the SFZC City Center. For five years he was director of the Soto Zen Buddhism North America Office and the Head Priest of Zenshuji in LA. In 2015 he moved to St. Louis and has been teaching there ever since. In this podcast, Daigaku fills in the blanks on all that, and talks about the latest book he's translated working with the author: “The Formless Record of the Transmission of Illumination: a Contemporary Commentary on Keizan Zenji’s Denkoroku - volume 1" by Gien Inoue.
Neil Rubenking came to the SF Zen Center in the seventies and had this interest in computers that benefitted the SFZC when hardly anyone knew anything about them and he sailed into a career with PC Magazine that continues to this day as their senior security analyst. He also worked for the CIA as a student summer job. Listen to this podcast and you'll learn more vital information about Neil and so forth.
Shosan Vicki Austin is a priest and teacher at the SF Zen Center whose reach has spread further due to her knowledge of ceremonies, meditation, and Iyengar Yoga. Her practice began in 1971 with a near death experience. She has studied and taught in America, India, Japan, and Australia where she became fascinated with the aboriginal ways . Listen to this podcast with her and find out what she has to say about all this - and more.
Jane Hirshfield is a renowned poet. She first came to the SF Zen Center, showing up at Tassajara in 1974 when I was head monk, a good day for us both. In this podcast she talks about her life as a poet, a Buddhist, a lover of life and this planet and all that is living. She reads from her recently published The Asking: New and Selected Poems (from fifty years of poetry).
Shamsul Bahari was born in Penang, Malaysia, and through a circuitous route through Dennis Kelly ended up at Green Gulch Farm. He's back in Penang now. Check him out in this podcast and at cheeseburgerbuddha.blogspot.com.
Jacob Fishman had a rough childhood on the streets of Brooklyn on his own from a young age. He escaped via the US Navy which took him to San Francisco where he became a student at the SF Art Inst. where he heard about Suzuki Roshi and the Zen Center where he started practicing in 1968. He's still living near the ZC but a lot happened in between. See the photos he took in the zendo while people did zazen on shunryusuzuki.com , linked to from his cuke page and the photo page on cuke.com.
Dwite Brown was sitting at Sokoji and sending his brother Ed Zen stories. Ed and Alan Winter came to check the West Coast out and started sitting at Sokoji too. Dwite worked with Silas Hoadley in Silas's importing business. He became an Episcopalian minister, taught computer science at a college. He and his wife Judy converted to Catholicism over three decades ago. Now they live near and are involved with the Abbey of New Clairvaux, a rural Trappist monastery located in Northern California in the small town of Vina in Tehama County. Dwite is a tour guide for the abbey.
Joanna Bull was a student of Shunryu Suzuki became a psychoanalyst and, as a result of having Gilda Radner as a client, went on to be a founder of Gilda's Club and the Cancer Support Community. She's got a neat ghost story too which led to her coming to the Zen Center.
Therese Fitzgerald came to the SF Zen Center in 1976, was ordained as a priest by Richard Baker in 1986, with her husband Arnold Kotler founded the Community of Mindful Living applying the teachings of Thich Nhat Hahn who ordained her as a dharmacharya in 1994. She worked with Maxine Hong Kingston's Veterans Writing Group. Now Therese is a hospice chaplain in Maui where she and Arnie moved to long ago. There's more to her story you can hear about in this podcast and last weeks' part one. To read the piece her hubby Arnie Kotler wrote for Inquiring Mind on his relationship with his father, Richard Baker and Thich Nhat Hanh, go to cuke.com, write his name in the site search box, and look for Letting go of My Father.
Therese Fitzgerald came to the SF Zen Center in 1976, was ordained as a priest by Richard Baker in 1986, with her husband Arnold Kotler founded the Community of Mindful Living applying the teachings of Thich Nhat Hahn who ordained her as a dharmacharya in 1994. She worked with Maxine Hong Kingston's Veterans Writing Group. Now Therese is a hospice chaplain in Maui where she and Arnie moved to long ago. There's more to her story you can hear about in this podcast and then next week's part two.
Ted Tripp heard Shunryu Suzuki speak at Stanford in 1967 and met him the next year at Tassajara where Suzuki let him stay longer in order for him to prepare himself to go to prison for anti-war activities. He's recently retired from teaching English at San Jose State and UC Santa Cruz. He says, "A solid foundation of dharma and ability to practice meditation is a good preparation for what comes next."
Rico Provasoli came to the SF Zen Center in 1967 to visit his brother Paul Provasoli who'd been there already several years. Rico got a taste of Zen training and set out on a long path that took him to many teachers and places. He's written two books: Please Don't Tell My Guru and Golf Between the Ears. His website is ricoprovasoli.me. For the last couple of decades he's been a student of Cheri Huber.
Jeff Sherman came to the San Francisco Zen Center in 1968. He practiced with Shunryu Suzuki, Richard Baker, and Katharine Thanas. Now he's with Josho Pat Phelan at the Chapel Hill Zen Center. This is the 2nd podcast with Jeff and focuses on his role in preparing Shunryu Suzuki's ashes site. There's a brief memory of Suzuki and a cool ghost story as well.
Charlie Pokorney is now a teacher at the Brooklyn Zen Center, He and his wife Sarah were head teachers at the Stone Creek Zen in Sebastopol, CA, for 8 years. He was at the SFZC, mainly Tassajara and Green Gulch farm for12 years during which time he and Timothy O'Conner Fraser got Shunryu Suzuki lecture audio and transcripts up on the SFZC website. He teaches at the Inst. of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley - and he's done a lot more but you can get at least some of that from the podcast.
Michael Papas came to the San Francisco Zen Center in 1980 at the age of 25 ready to kill himself if Zen didn't work. Thus begins his way-seeking mind story.
Follow Mark Foote's unique way-seeking mind story and thought. Delve into it at zenmudra.com and at Zazen Notes on Facebook.
This is part 2 of the podcast with Eric Larsen who came to the SFZC in 1970. Aside from his Zen studies, he apprenticed with master sculptor, blacksmith, etc Alex Weygers, and learned chain saw sculpting etc from JB Blunk, and studied with Yurok shaman Harry Roberts. In recent years he's been immersed in Butoh dance in Japan and the US. See ericlarsendance.com. More at Eric's cuke.com page.
Eric Larsen came to the SFZC in 1970. Aside from his Zen studies, he apprenticed with master sculptor, blacksmith, etc Alex Weygers, and learned chain saw sculpting etc from JB Blunk, and studied with Yurok shaman Harry Roberts. In recent years he's been immersed in Butoh dance in Japan and the US. See ericlarsendance.com. More at Eric's cuke.com page. This is part one. Next week part two.
Robert Shuman was a student of Shunryu Suzuki in the San Francisco and at Tassajara and then a student of Joshu Sasaki in LA and at Mt. Baldy and then of Philip Kapleau in Rochester. He and his wife Hennie went to Raleigh to lead a Kapleau group long ago and they're still there now though their group hasn't met since Covid began.
Micah Sawyer was born at Green Gulch Farm. He talks about growing up in and around the farm and the SF Zen Center but mainly about Micah's Hugs which he and his wife Michelle founded after their son, Micah Jr. tragically died at 22 of a Fentanyl overdose. Check out micahshugs.org.
Jim Mussman came to Zen Center in 1970 via Japan where he attended his third year of medical school and got close to Suzuki students Carl Bielefeldt and Fred Stoeber. We hear about his Buddhist life and his anti-nuclear activity. He's a doctor now in New Rochelle, New York, and practices there with the Empty Hand Zen Center.
This is the 2nd podcast with Alan Senauke. It picks up where we left off on the last one, #91. He is the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center and author of the recently published Turning Words, Transformative Encounters with Buddhist Teachers. He has a long involvement with Buddhist peace work and music.
Leland Smithson was a logger from Vancouver who came to the SF Zen Center in 1972 while still a teenager and practiced there for a number of years. He's written some books in the fantasy realm - check him out on Amazon etc - and has a few neat pieces on cuke.com as well. I, DC, talk about what's going on with us here in Bali for a while and then at 21 minutes get ready to calll Leland into the podcast.
Laura Burges, in her 2nd appearance as a podcast guest, talks about her latest book, The Zen Way of Recovery: An Illuminated Path Out of the Darkness of Addiction. Laura is a retired school teacher and current Zen teacher who specializes in recovery. Her prior books are Buddhist Stories for Kids and Zen for Kids.
Rob Gove started practicing with Shunryu Suzuki at Sokoji in the early 60s. He studied at the San Francisco Art Institute and brought a number of other students from there to Sokoji. He became a stone sculptor and has been working away at that in Italy for about half a century. See robertgovesculpture.com and cuke.com/people/gove-rob.htm.
Lee Lesser was for many years a student and assistant to sensory awareness teacher Charlotte Selver. Lee was a student at the SF Zen Center and with Chris Fortin founded Veteran's Path (veteranspath.org).
Tim Burkett, early Shunryu Suzuki student and retired abbot of the Minneapolis Zen Meditation Center, talks about his new book, Enlightenment Is an Accident: Ancient Wisdom and Simple Practices to Make You Accident Prone.
Chris Miller returns to read excerpts about Tassajara and Shunryu Suzuki from Searching for the Path Within: from Poetry to Zen in the Sixties, which he wrote under the pen name Christopher Lennox
Chris Miller was a student of Shunryu Suzuki. Herein he talks about the path that led him there. He was at the first practice period at Tassajara. He's retired now from teaching college level composition. He published a book: Seeking the Path Within: from Poetry to Zen in the Sixties, under the pen name Christopher Lennox - the Zen part is on cuke.com.
Iva Jones was a Shunryu Suzuki student who came to the SFZC in 1970. She's done civil rights and peace work. She became an acupuncturist and is now retired.
Alan Senauke is the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center and author of the recently published "Turning Words, Transformative Encounters with Buddhist Teachers." He has a long involvement with Buddhist peace work and music.
Doris Wolter has been active in European, especially German Buddhism for decades. She is a student of Khentse Norbu and arranged for Crooked Cucumber to be republished in German by Manjughosha as Krumme Gurke –Leben und Lehre des Zen-Meisters Shunryu Suzuki. Twelve years or so ago I attended a seminar led by Richard Baker and David Schneider that Doris hosted for the German Buddhist Union. Recently she was in Bali for a solo retreat and Katrinka and I were fortunate to meet with her a number of times.- dc
Doris Walter has been active in European, especially German Buddhism for decades. She is a student of Khentse Norbu and arranged for Crooked Cucumber to be republished in German by Manjughosha as Krumme Gurke –Leben und Lehre des Zen-Meisters Shunryu Suzuki. Twelve years or so ago I attended a seminar led by Richard Baker and David Schneider that Doris hosted for the German Buddhist Union. Recently she was in Bali for a solo retreat and Katrinka and I were fortunate to meet with her a number of times.- dc
Linda Lehrhaupt is an American Zen teacher, mainly in Germany, and the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Mindfulness-Based Approaches (IMA). She began teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in 1993 See institute-for-mindfulness.org. Her group in Germany is zen-herz.de (Zen Heart). She's a teacher in the White Plum Asangha. See openmindzen.com. Linda Lehrhaupt is an American Zen teacher, mainly in Germany, and the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Mindfulness-Based Approaches (IMA). She began teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in 1993 See institute-for-mindfulness.org. Her group in Germany is zen-herz.de (Zen Heart). She's a teacher in the White Plum Asangha. See openmindzen.com. She's a co-author of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction: The MBSR Program to Enhance Health and Vitality, and author of Tai Chi as a Path of Wisdom.
Lawrence Burns is a professor of clinical psychology and personality at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. As a kid, he and his siblings went to Tassajara with their mother who, after ten years of research, made a scrapbook on Tassajara history that we turned into a book named A Brief History of Tassajara - published by Cuke Press.
Dorothy Kostriken will be remembered by some old-timers as Dot Luce back in very beginning of Tassajara as Zen Mt. Center. In more recent decades she's been up around the Arcadia zendo.
Elaine Maisner was a study at the San Francisco Zen Center who retired last year from 35 years in the world of university publishing, the last 28 being at the University of North Carolina Press.
David Cohen is the brother of the late great Zen teacher Darleen Cohen. David was around the SFZC a lot in the past -doing electrical and mechanical work. He's been Cuke Archives tech support at times. He's been a fly on the wall at times and at others, a fly in the soup. So let's hear what he has to say.
Frank Simmons is an old friend of mine, DC, who came out to California to visit me and got the Zen bug. He has been taking care of a meditation center in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico for over twenty years. Check it out at meditationsma.org and their Facebook page you can find by writing "Meditation Center of San Miguel."
Narcissus Quagliata was a student of Shunryu Suzuki and an artist who has had an impressive career with stained glass. See him on cuke.com and at narcissusquaglita.com. Also check his books out at Amazon.com.
Joe Cohen is a musician and audiophile and spiritual seeker who first heard Shunryu Suzuki speak in 1967. He's got a high end audio store in Novato, CA, and his business is The Lotus Group USA. - https://www.lotusgroupusa.com/
Joe Cohen is a fine musician and audiophile - see Lotus Group USA. He came to the SF Zen Center during the Shunryu Suzuki era.
Robert Anderson came to the SF Zen Center in the 70s and went on to become a psychoanalyst.
Alan Block practiced Zen at the San Francisco Zen Center and now has a Zen group with no internet presence. One may contact him at alanblock510@email.com.
Chris Fortin is the founding teacher of Dharma Heart Zen (dharmaheartzen.com) and a co-founder of Veteran’s Path (veteranspath.org).
Emma Bragdon is the founder of IMHU, the International Mental Health University. She was a student of Shunryu Suzuki . See emmabragdon.com and IMHU.org, read more at cuke.com, and find her on Facebook too.
Upasama (formerly Reuven be Yuhmin) was a student of Shunryu Suzuki, a great gardener at Tassajara , who's been living in a Theravada monastery near Perth, Australia, for the last ten years.
Laura Burges is a lay entrusted Zen teacher and author of Buddhist Stories for Kids which we'll be discussing among other things.
Kelsang Tsogtor whom many would remember as Van Vorheis, was a Shunryu Suzuki student and now in Oaxaca is a priest in the Kadampa tradition. See kadampa.org.
Brit Pyland came to the SF Zen Center in the mid sixties. Here's what led him there and what's been up with him since.
Reading about and commenting on Shunryu Suzuki student, Zen teacher, and friend Layla who died this November 3, 2022.
Michael Wenger founded Dragons Leap, a Zen group in San Francisco, after many years with the SF Zen Center. Barbara Wenger also was with the Zen Center for many years and is the founder of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group.
Annette Lorenzo has practiced at the San Francisco Zen Center and currently is involved with various projects on social media such as her Soto Zen Warrior on Instagram and Accidental Buddhist on Facebook.
Paul Shippee was one of our first guest podcasts. He's an old Suzuki and Trungpa student. In this podcast he talks about his workshops in NVC, Nonviolent Communication, and Buddhism. To learn more about it go to paulshippee.com and then to the Workshops dropdown and choose Buddhism/NVC then Info.
Berry Crawford is an ordained Zen practitioner/teacher with Clear Mind Zen and also practices with Valley Streams Zen Sangha in Sacramento, California. He does video podcasts, one with yours truly, that one can find at simplicityzen.com.. This week we delve into the substance of his other two websites: sierrafoothills.com and mainly sienceofzen.org
Berry Crawford is an ordained Zen practitioner/teacher with Clear Mind Zen and also practices with Valley Streams Zen Sangha in Sacramento, California. He does video podcasts, one with yours truly, that one can find at simplicityzen.com.
Lawrence Shainberg is the author of Ambivalent Zen and the Recent Four Men Shaking: Searching For Sanity with Samuel Beckett, Norman Mailer, and My Perfect Zen Teacher and other books you can see at lawrenceshainberg.com.
Eric Arnow came to the SFZC toward the end of Shunryu Suzuki's life. For the last 15 years or so he's been living in Thailand with a lot of time spent in China practicing Zen - and a few trips to Russia. You can find more on and by Eric at his Bumble Buddhist Blog on Wor Press. There are links to that and stuff he's written about Asia etc and photos on his cuke.com page.: cuke.com/people/arnow-eric.htm
Ken Knabb is famed for his Bureau of Public Secrets (bopsecrets.org), his writings on the Situationist movement and Kenneth Rexroth. He's had a long time association with the Berkeley Zen Center.
A clip from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture, lightly edited. In Suzuki's voice and read by DC.
Outtakes from Zen Is Right Here and Zen Is Right Now, two DC books with vignettes about Shunryu Suzuki.
Outtakes from Zen Is Right Here and Zen Is Right Now, two DC books with vignettes about Shunryu Suzuki.
Peter van der Sterre came to the SFZC in 1972, was ordained by Richard Baker, received transmission from Norman Fischer, and is the founding teacher of the Oak Street Zendo in San Francisco (oakstreetzendo.org) and the 7th Street Zendo in Boise, Idaho.
A clip from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture, lightly edited. In Suzuki's voice and read by DC.
A clip from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture, lightly edited. In Suzuki's voice and read by DC.
Life in Bali is our respite from all that Zen nonsense. It's where we have lived since late 2013. So once a week we give a peek at what it's like for us here and what some other folks, locals and expats, have to say. We is Katrinka and I, DC, poohbah of Cuke Audio and Cuke Archives.
Outtakes from Zen Is Right Here and Zen Is Right Now, two DC books with vignettes about Shunryu Suzuki.
Outtakes from Zen Is Right Here and Zen Is Right Now, two DC books with vignettes about Shunryu Suzuki.
Peter van der Sterre came to the SFZC in 1972, was ordained by Richard Baker, received transmission from Norman Fischer, and is the founding teacher of the Oak Street Zendo in San Francisco (oakstreetzendo.org) and the 7th Street Zendo in Boise, Idaho.
A clip from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture, lightly edited. In Suzuki's voice and read by DC. This one is 65-07-30-B.
Outtakes from Zen Is Right Here and Zen Is Right Now, two DC books with vignettes about Shunryu Suzuki.
Intro to the audiobook for Thank You and OK! an American Zen Failure in Japan - also included as a bonus is the Outro to the audiobook.
Outtakes from Zen Is Right Here and Zen Is Right Now, two DC books with vignettes about Shunryu Suzuki.
David Silva arrived at Tassajara in 1971. He and his wife Linda spend about a third of their time these days hiking and traveling. He takes great photos that we see on davidsilvaphotography.com and David Silva on Flickr.
Outtakes from Zen Is Right Here and Zen Is Right Now, two DC books with vignettes about Shunryu Suzuki.
Outtakes from Zen Is Right Here and Zen Is Right Now, two DC books with vignettes about Shunryu Suzuki.
Gloria Simoneaux founded Drawbridge and Harambee Arts to use art to work with homeless and sick kids and rescue women as we learned last week. We talk about her experience with Vipassana retreats herein - and some other subjects.
Outtakes from Zen Is Right Here and Zen Is Right Now, two DC books with vignettes about Shunryu Suzuki.
I'm a Zen Buddhist writer living in Bali. My Band, Baliyuga, is all Indonesians. We record songs I've written and sing, some recent, some from long ago. This song, Zero, informed by Buddhism and physics, is a somewhat mysterious venture into the seeming nothing of the cipher zero. The music is positive and cool. I will plug it on social media but mainly I work on new material - books, audiobooks, short stories, podcasts, blog posts, and songs.
Gloria Simoneaux is the founder of Harambee Arts (harambeearts.org) which works with children in Kenyan slums and rescue women in Nepal through art. In the eighties she founded Drawbridge in San Francisco working with children with cancer and homeless children.
from Thank You and OK! an American Zen Failure in Japanfrom Thank You and OK! an American Zen Failure in Japan
Outtakes from Zen Is Right Here and Zen Is Right Now, two DC books with vignettes about Shunryu Suzuki.
Outtakes from Zen Is Right Here and Zen Is Right Now, two DC books with vignettes about Shunryu Suzuki.
Howie Klein is an old friend who was at Millbrook and practiced at the SFZC and studied with Trungpa and is an all around cool guy.
Outtakes from Zen Is Right Here and Zen Is Right Now, two DC books with vignettes about Shunryu Suzuki.
Outtakes from Zen Is Right Here and Zen Is Right Now, two DC books with vignettes about Shunryu Suzuki.
John Bailes practiced 13 years at the San Francisco Zen Center and is the founding teacher of One Heart Zen - oneheartzen.org in Somerville, MA.
Outtakes from Zen Is Right Here and Zen Is Right Now, two DC books with vignettes about Shunryu Suzuki.
Outtakes from Zen Is Right Here and Zen Is Right Now, two DC books with vignettes about Shunryu Suzuki.
Nonin Chowaney died July 29, 2022. He was the abbot of the Omaha Zen Center for many years. His teacher was Dainin Katagiri. He's the Norman in Thank You and OK! A dear friend. Farewell Nonin.
Outtakes from Zen Is Right Here and Zen Is Right Now, two DC books with vignettes about Shunryu Suzuki.
Life in Bali is our respite from all that Zen nonsense. It's where we have lived since late 2013. So once a week we give a peek at what it's like for us here and what some other folks, locals and expats, have to say. We is Katrinka and I, DC, poohbah of Cuke Audio and Cuke Archives.
James Ishmael Ford is a Zen Priest and a Unitarian minister who's written a number of books. His website is jamesishmaelford.com.
Willem Malten came from Holland to the SFZC in the mid-seventies. In 1983 he moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and, among other things, started the Cloud Cliff Bakery. He talks herein about that, about his anti-nuke work, Ayahuasca ventures, relationship with Kobun Chino and more.
If your Audible audiobook is missing chapter three of Crooked Cucumber: the Live and Zen Teaching of Shunryu Suzuki, here it is. Only the Apple and iTunes versions have that problem now I think. It was a general problem with the first upload to Audible and was fixed but it seems the fix wasn't forwarded to Apple Books and ITunes. They'll fix it pretty soon now that we've discovered the problem. This podcast is linked to from the audiobook for CC page on cuke.com. - dc
Peter Levitt is a Zen teacher in the Shunryu Suzuki lineage who has published many books of poetry. He's worked with Kazuaki Tanahashi on translations of Dogen and more for years and with others on other translations. His website is peterlevitt.com and his Zen group is Salt Spring Zen Circle - saltspringzencircle.org.
Carolyn Morton came to the SF Zen Center in the sixties, married Rick Morton. In 1974 they went to Japan. She has worked with Rick in his fine art and antique restoration, refinishing, and finishing in the Sausalito shop and continued her Zen practice. This is the third and last podcast of the Morton Trilogy.
Rick Morton came to the SF Zen Center in 1966, married Carolyn, they went to Japan in 1974, studied Zen, learned some things like Rick studied how to work with urushi, Japanese lacquer. He and Carolyn live in Sausalito where he does fine furniture and art restoration, refinishing and finishing. His business is Richard Morton Fine Antique Restoration. His brother Jim was last week's guest and Carolyn will be next week's.
Made Janur Yasa is the founder of Plastic Exchange in Bali in a noble attempt to clean up this place - Bali, the world. See plasticexchange.org.
Life in Bali is our respite from all that Zen nonsense. It's where we have lived since late 2013. These podcasts give a peak at what it's like for us to live in Bali and what some other folks, locals and expats, have to say. We is Katrinka and I, DC, poohbah of Cuke Audio and Cuke Archives.
Jim Morton came to the SF Zen Center from Vermont and was at Tassajara the first year. He lived in Japan for many years, studying Zen and Calligraphy and more.
Mayumi is an acclaimed artist, activist, and Buddhist teacher, and a dear friend. See mayumioda.net.
Life in Bali is our weekly respite from all that Zen nonsense. It's where we have lived since late 2013. So once a week we give a peak at what it's like for us here and what some other folks, locals and expats, have to say. We is Katrinka and I, DC, poohbah of Cuke Audio and Cuke Archives.
Pat McMahon came from Reed College to the SF Zen Center in the Shunryu Suzuki days. He has a business in Oakland, CA, called Rocksolid Gardens and Landscaping.
from Thank You & OK!: an American Zen Failure in Japan - Chapter 27 - Learning the Bureaucracy.
Part two of three from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture - Real Precepts are Beyond Words - given on July 2, 1971.
from Thank You & OK!: an American Zen Failure in Japan. Ch 25 - Koji, Bound by Duty. Ch 26 - Takuhatsu, to Entrust the Bowl.
Bruce Fortin started off with Shunryu Suzuki, joined Steve Gaskin at The Farm, circled back to the SF Zen Center, became a priest, is the founding teacher of the Occidental Laguna Sangha, has been quite involved with hospice, teaching in prison, and recently a documentary: Embers of Awakening: From Firestorms to Climate Healing.
from Thank You & OK!: an American Zen Failure in Japan - 23-Beaning the Spirits & 24-Creepin' Mukade
This is the last lecture he gave before dying. First I read it then you hear him speaking it. - dc
Larry Hansen was an early Shunryu Suzuki student who teaches sailing by the stars and gets around quite a bit.
An audio excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture preceded by a reading of the material from a transcript and some comments.
The first excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on practice. This is the last lecture he gave before dying.
from Thank You & OK!: an American Zen Failure in Japan. Jakushin on the Bottom and Marital Bows.
David Padwa helped us to obtain Tassajara. You'll hear some about his many roads herein like his venture out in the Be Here Now trip to Nepal and India and about his upcoming new book , Tetralemma. Check it out at tetralemma.org.
An excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on practice. This is the last lecture he gave before dying.
from Thank You & OK!: an American Zen Failure in Japan. ch 15-Jenglesh and Englese, 16-Launch and Lunch, 17-Tea Time
The first excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on practice. This is the last lecture he gave before dying.
An audio excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture preceded by a reading of the material from a transcript and some comments.
Sue Moon is a Zen teacher and writer and humorist. Her latest book is Alive Until You're Dead: Notes on the Final Stretch, released this April 2022 by Shambhala.
from Thank You & OK!: an American Zen Failure in Japan. Ch 11-13. Owl and Dreams, On a Slow Train Home, Kobashi to the Rescue.
An audio excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture preceded by a reading of the material from a transcript and some comments.
Kamala Cesar Buckner was a student of Shunryu Suzuki and Indian dance, dance from India. I say that because she's also of Mohawk ancestry. She founded and is the artistic director of Lotus Music and Dance in New York City.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on why we practice given at Sokoji in San Francisco in 1965.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on why we practice given at Sokoji in San Francisco in 1965.
Daishin David Sunseri had heard Shunryu Suzuki lecture as a young man and later was close with Issan Dorsey. Daishin was ordained as a monk in the Rinzai tradition. He now lives in the San Francisco, the city of his birth.
An audio excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on why we practice given at Sokoji in San Francisco in 1965.
Andy Ferguson joins us again to talk about climate change and the development of Buddhism especially in China.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on Wisdom Seeking Wisdom given at Los Altos in 1965.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on Wisdom Seeking Wisdom given at Los Altos in 1965.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on Wisdom Seeking Wisdom given at Los Altos in 1965.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on Wisdom Seeking Wisdom given at Los Altos in 1965.
Gus Suteja will talk about the ceremonies there were for his brother who died not long ago. He's the lead guitarist in our band so clips of his guitar playing from four of our songs punctuate the podcast. Check us out at baliyuga.com. Life in Bali is our weekly respite from all that Zen nonsense. It's where we have lived since late 2013. So once a week we give a peak at what it's like for us here and what some other folks, locals and expats, have to say. We is Katrinka and I, DC, poohbah of Cuke Audio and Cuke Archives.
Len Brackett was a founding practitioner and resident in the Reed College Zen house where people could come and practice zazen. I met him at Tassajara in 1967. He practiced Zen and learned temple carpentry in Japan and founded East Wind Inc in the US, a company that built traditional Japanese homes and so forth.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on Wisdom Seeking Wisdom given at Los Altos in 1965.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on Wisdom Seeking Wisdom given at Los Altos in 1965.
A brief audio excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on Wisdom Seeking Wisdom given at Los Altos in 1965.
The Front Matter from Thank You & OK!: an American Zen Failure in Japan - this is a test run.
Listen to Shunryu Suzuki lecture on Studying Yourself, a lecture given at Los Altos in 1965. This brief talk was edited for a chapter in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
Tim Burkett is a retired long time guiding teacher of the Minneapolis Zen Center. He was an early Shunryu Suzuki student who got the South Bay sitting going that evolved into the Los Altos Zendo and now Kannondo.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on Studying Yourself given at Los Altos in 1965. This brief talk was edited for a chapter in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on Studying Yourself given at Los Altos in 1965. This brief talk was edited for a chapter in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on Studying Yourself given at Los Altos in 1965. This brief talk was edited for a chapter in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on Studying Yourself given at Los Altos in 1965. This brief talk was edited for a chapter in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on Studying Yourself given at Los Altos in 1965. This brief talk was edited for a chapter in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
Lew Richmond is a disciple of Shunryu Suzuki who founded the Vimala Sangha in Mill Valley, CA, and who has written a number of books such as Ageing as a Spiritual Practice
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on Studying Yourself given at Los Altos in 1965. This brief talk was edited for a chapter in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on Studying Yourself given at Los Altos in 1965. This brief talk was edited for a chapter in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on Studying Yourself given at Los Altos in 1965. This brief talk was edited for a chapter in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
Jon Joseph is a teacher in the Pacific Zen Institute who studied Zen in Jpan and the US.
A Shunryu Suzuki lecture on calmness given at Los Altos in 1965. This brief talk was edited for a chapter in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. Tha chapter is read by DC and then the edited audio is played.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture calmness given at Los Altos in 1965. This brief talk was edited for a chapter in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture calmness given at Los Altos in 1965. This brief talk was edited for a chapter in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
Andy Ferguson is the author of Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings, and Tracking Bodhidharma: A Journey to the Heart of Chinese Culture. As founder of South Mountain China Tours, he led many Buddhist tours of China.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture calmness given at Los Altos in 1965. This brief talk was edited for a chapter in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture calmness given at Los Altos in 1965. This brief talk was edited for a chapter in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture calmness given at Los Altos in 1965. This brief talk was edited for a chapter in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture calmness given at Los Altos in 1965. This brief talk was edited for a chapter in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
A brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture calmness given at Los Altos in 1965. This brief talk was edited for a chapter in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
Ken Berman practiced with us from the late sixties. He was one of the youngest males to do so, staring when he was sixteen. Great stories.
A brief audio excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on calmness given at Los Altos in 1965. This brief talk was edited for a chapter in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
Life in Bali is our weekly respite from all that Zen nonsense. It's where we have lived since late 2013. So once a week we give a peak at what it's like for us here and what some other folks, locals and expats, have to say. We is Katrinka and I, DC, poohbah of Cuke Audio and Cuke Archives.
Jerry Halpern practiced at the Los Altos Zendo and began studying with Shunryu Suzuki in 1967. This piece was inspired by his listening to the audio and reading the transcript of the very last part of Suzuki's lecture on Beginner's Mind. a part about "Thank You" that was not used in the book.
Tracy McCallum began his Zen journey in 1965 at Sokoji with Tim Buckley and Shunryu Suzuki.
Brad Warner is the author of Hard Core Zen and 8 other books. He does daily podcasts one can find at Hard Core Zen on YouTube. And that's not all.
Suzuki audio excerpt part 2 of a lecture on Beginner's Mind. This part was not included in the book.
Reading a piece by Barry Magid on zazen called "You Can't do it Wrong." Barry Magid is a psychoanalyst and Zen teacher whose life and work has been dedicated to the integration of Western psychoanalytic psychology with Zen Buddhist practice. - from his Zen website - ordinarymind.com. A misc. podcast.
Charles Hoy was a Shunryu Suzuki then a Chogyam Trungpa student who now lives in New Mexico.
Liza Latif has a flower shop here in Sanur. She went to college in New Orleans. Life in Bali is our weekly respite from all that Zen nonsense. It's where we have lived since late 2013. So once a week we give a peak at what it's like for us here and what some other folks, locals and expats, have to say. We is Katrinka and I, DC, poohbah of Cuke Audio and Cuke Archives.
Today's guest is Ni Luh Sukasari who's head of the People's Law Center in Bali. Life in Bali is our weekly respite from all that Zen nonsense. It's where we have lived since late 2013. So once a week we give a peak at what it's like for us here and what some other folks, locals and expats, have to say. We is Katrinka and I, DC, poohbah of Cuke Audio and Cuke Archives.
Gaetano Kazuo Maida is the founder of the Buddhist Film Festival and much more that you're about to learn.
Ann Overton practiced with Shunryu Suzuki and Richard Baker and with Sekkei Harada in Japan and there's more to her story than that.
Reading the Shunryu Suzuki lecture on Beginner's Mind, actual verbatim transcript, not just appears to be, having been checked against the newly found audio.
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture (67-06-12) was featured in yesterday's (22-01-24) Instagram Cuke Archives post.
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of Chapter 16 in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook. The audio clip from the Suzuki lecture was initially not included but thanks to alert listener Ted Howell it is now in there - twice - and this podcast is being updated for January 11. 2022 and reposted on January 23, 2022 with the same title plus "redux."
Elizabeth Horowitz was a student at the Berkeley ZC originally, arriving in the Shunryu Suzuki era, and married the priest there, Mel Weitsman. She talks about some pros and cons of practice at the SFZC.
Part 3, last part, of a Shunryu Suzuki lecture on Beginner's Mind, seemingly verbatim transcript.
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of Chapter 19 in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook.
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of Chapter 18 in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook.
Mystie Brackett talks about her time at the SFZC Green Gulch Farm and City Center, her life in Colorado, and how sangha is still with her.
Life in Bali is our weekly respite from all that Zen nonsense. It's where we have lived since late 2013. So once a week we give a peak at what it's like for us here and what some other folks, locals and expats, have to say. We is Katrinka and I, DC, poohbah of Cuke Audio and Cuke Archives.
Life in Bali is our weekly respite from all that Zen nonsense. It's where we have lived since late 2013. So once a week we give a peak at what it's like for us here and what some other folks, locals and expats, have to say. We is Katrinka and I, DC, poohbah of Cuke Audio and Cuke Archives.
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of Chapter 17 in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook.
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of Chapter 16 in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook. The audio clip from the Suzuki lecture was initially not included but thanks to alert listener Ted Howell it is now in there - twice - and this podcast is being updated for January 11. 2022 and reposted on January 23, 2022.
Dr. Ida Ayu Narayani who is called Raya is our guest again to have a leisurely talk about the present Covid situation, her boyfriend, and dogs and cats.
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of Chapter 15 in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook.
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of Chapter 14 in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook.
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of Chapter 13 in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook.
This brief audio excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of Chapter 12 in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook.
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of Chapter 11 in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook.
Dennis Marshall was born in Yorkshire, England 90 years ago. About forty years later he went to a lecture at the City Center of the SFZC and was right away sold on Suzuki and the general communal feeling there. About thirty years ago he moved to Crestone, Colorado, and since then has been involved with Richard Baker and Dharma Sangha.
Gus Awan helps out with Cuke Archives tedium and talks here about New Year's in Bali and some other stuff. Life in Bali is our respite from all that Zen nonsense. It's where we have lived since late 2013. So from time to time we give a peek at what it's like for us here and what some other folks, locals and expats, have to say. We is Katrinka and I, DC, poohbah of Cuke Audio and Cuke Archives.
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of Chapter 10 in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of Chapter 9 in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of Chapter in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook
Dennis White was a student of Shunryu Suzuki and then of Chogyam Trungpa and then of other Tibetan teachers.
The very brief chapter four and five of Pseudo Dionysius' Mystical Theology. Uploading to slowly. Was hard to even get to Podbean to download. Christmas day connectivity logjam I guess. - dc
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of Chapter 7 in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook
Life in Bali is our respite from all that Zen nonsense. It's where we have lived since late 2013. So once a week we give a peek at what it's like for us here and what some other folks, locals and expats, have to say. We is Katrinka and I, DC, poohbah of Cuke Audio and Cuke Archives.
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of Chapter 6 in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of Chapter 5 in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook.
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of Chapter four in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook
Richard and Alice Haspry take us on a journey from Nova Scotia where they live now, back in time to how they got involved in Buddhist practice, coming to the SF Zen Center and practicing with Shunryu Suzuki, becoming Chogyam Trungpa students and more.
Life in Bali is our respite from all that Zen nonsense. It's where we have lived since late 2013. So once a week we give a peek at what it's like for us here and what some other folks, locals and expats, have to say. We is Katrinka and I, DC, poohbah of Cuke Audio and Cuke Archives.
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of Chapter 3 in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of Chapter 2 in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of Chapter 1 in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition. audiobook
This brief excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of the Introduction to the book in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook
A Miscellaneous Cuke Audio podcast for our YouTube listeners coming to you from Cuke Archives Studio.
This brief audio excerpt from a Shunryu Suzuki lecture is placed at the end of the Introduction to the Audiobook in the Crooked Cucumber 2nd edition audiobook
Stuff that happened at our around the SF Zen Center's City Center and Green Gulch Farm or somewhere not Tassajara.
Life in Bali is our respite from all that Zen nonsense. It's where we have lived since late 2013. So once a week we give a peek at what it's like for us here and what some other folks, locals and expats, have to say. We is Katrinka and I, DC, poohbah of Cuke Audio and Cuke Archives.
Read this lecture Suzuki gave at Los Altos on Buddha's Enlightenment day in the Japanese and Chinese understanding.
John Tarrant is the founding teacher of PZI, the Pacific Zen Inst located in Santa Rosa CA. PZI is a fiscal sponsor of Cuke Archives. John wrote The Light Inside the Dark and Bring Me the Rhinoceros.
Stuff that happened at our around the SF Zen Center's City Center and Green Gulch Farm or somewhere not Tassajara.
A Miscellaneous Cuke Audio podcast coming to you from Cuke Archives Studio. This one informing you dear listener that the audiobook for Crooked Cucumber has been repaired and is in tip top condition.
Stuff that happened at our around the SF Zen Center's City Center and Green Gulch Farm or somewhere not Tassajara.
Stuff that happened at our around the old Sokoji, the SF Zen Center's City Center, or Green Gulch Farm, or somewhere not Tassajara.
Draft piece(s) for a work in progress - Tassajara Stories: the Early Years with Shunryu Suzuki. This is the last piece and, for now anyway, the last podcast in the Tassajara Stories series. And it's just a song written for Tassajara. First I read it, after rambling on a while, and then play an mp3 from a tape of songs called Fooled by Everything with a little band we had in Bolinas back in 1980. See defusermusic.com for more.
Shohaku Okumura Roshi is the head teacher at the Sanshin Zen Community in Bloomington, Indiana. Their website is sanshinji.org. He also founded the Dogen Institute.
Life in Bali is our respite from all that Zen nonsense. It's where we have lived since late 2013. So once a week we give a peek at what it's like for us here and what some other folks, locals and expats, have to say. We is Katrinka and I, DC, poohbah of Cuke Audio and Cuke Archives.
The Haiku Zendo in Los Altos,, California, is where Shunryu Suzuki gave the lectures that made up Zen Mind, Beginner's MInd. Cuke Audio is a production of Cuke Archives: preserving the legacy of Shunryu Suzuki and those whose paths crossed his - and anything else that comes to mind.
Draft piece(s) for a work in progress - Tassajara Stories: the Early Years with Shunryu Suzuki
The Haiku Zendo in Los Altos,, California, is where Shunryu Suzuki gave the lectures that made up Zen Mind, Beginner's MInd. Cuke Audio is a production of Cuke Archives: preserving the legacy of Shunryu Suzuki and those whose paths crossed his - and anything else that comes to mind.