What's New this year
going backwards in time

What Was New last year - and beyond to 1999

Shambhala Publications releases Zen Is Right Here: Teaching Stories and Anecdotes of Shunryu Suzuki, Author of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
click thumbnail to enlarge cover
ZIRH home page

May

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

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

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

Campaign for Burma   BBC - aid arriving

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

5-02-08 - A Report on the SFZC's Early Tassajara Alumni Reunion. This is a link to the SFZC website. It was sent to a SFZC email list which should include all the Tassajara practice period alumni (1st 25 years - 67-92) whom we were in contact with. If you wish to be included on that email list and were not, please send me an email and I'll get you on it. <dchad3[at]sonic[dot]net>. Here's the link to that event on this site. - dc

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

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

April

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

In CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism

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

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

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

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

Click thumbnail to enlarge.

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

Click thumbnail to enlarge.

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

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

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

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

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

Which plastics are safe? - thanks to Kelly Chadwick

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

4-22-08 - Happy Earth Day!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is the Ryaku Fusatsu by Nonin Chowaney

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

See the PDF Flier with photos of them

4-16-08 -

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Torture Debate Among Healers by Amy Goodman

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

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

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

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

Just got this email from Daniel

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

And do check out that inspirational link. - dc

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

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

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

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

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

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

4-05-08 - RIP Daniel Owsley Ray.

Say no to a new generation of nuclear weapons.

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

Elephant painting is incredible but real. - thanks Mary Cunov

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

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

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

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

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

Who's this with Mitsu Suzuki? Send answer to dchad3[at]sonic[dot]net. Click thumbnail to enlarge.

March

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Another offer to buy cuke.com!

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

Gasshoing Zen dog - thanks Katrinka, Carolyn, Huff Post

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An additional request concerning the violence in Tibet from Barrie Mason

A request concerning the violence in Israel  from Emila Palmers at Green Gulch Farm - My son, Eric and three grandchildren live in Sderot, the border town to Gaza which gets all the rockets. He and a Palestinian friend from Gaza have a website. Please look at it.  They write about their daily life in the war zone. They are circulating a petition they initiated and I am trying to get as many people to sign it. Please sign it on their blog, or go directly to the petition site.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

filed in CukeSanghaNews

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

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

Other than that....

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

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

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

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

Here's an art question.

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

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

hit thumbnail to enlarge

February

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photos of Ananda by Diane Dalenberg coming tomorrow.

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

Program for Ceremony

Bio Notes handed out at Ceremony

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

Daihishin for Ananda from Gary Snyder

Adios, Ah Budos, Ananda by Dan Welch

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

See new Ananda Hub Page.

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

Tomorrow - Diane Dalenberg's photos

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2-15-08 - Update on Ananda

2-14-08 - Update on Ananda

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

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

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

Read “Parting with Claude Dalenberg” by Gary Snyder

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 [DC continues this birthday ramble in dchad misc]

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

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

See the PDF flier

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

by Stephan Bodian - his website

featuring a blurb by dc:

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

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

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

filed in CurrentEvents\EngagedBuddhism

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

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

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

Two recent articles sent by Taigen:

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

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

Eight Songs by Ben Gustin in the growing cuke Music Section.

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

Were Shunryu and Mitsu Suzuki citizens?

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

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

January

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

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

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

1-28-08 - Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

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

Interviews with Peter and Jane Schneider

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

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

A new poem from Barton Stone - It Happened Again!

Full Moon Poetry from Katrinka McKay

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

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

Barbara Horn sends alumni greetings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See Countdown: Torturers Like Us

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

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

Sit Down and Shut Up

 Hardcore Zen

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

life goes on, death goes on

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

Arnie Kotler's Koa Books strikes again with:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Books by Dainin Katagiri -  compilations of his lectures

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

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

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

1-08-08 - On Phillip Wilson by DC

Early Tassajara Alumni Reunion note of import.

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

1-06-08 - Interview with JJ Wilson

Phillip Wilson Main Page

Compare ZMBM chapter called Repetition with original transcript

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

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

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

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

1-01-08 - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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

 What Was New:  1999, 2000-2001,  2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

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

How to donate to this site and the work DC does

IMPEACH 'EM BOTH NOW