Episodes

4 days ago
With Guest Wendy Pirsig
4 days ago
4 days ago
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a posthumously published a book of her late husband Robert Pirsig's works: On Quality: An Inquiry Into Excellence: Unpublished and Selected Writings.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.

Saturday Apr 12, 2025
With Guest Laura Burges on Wisdom Stories of Tibet
Saturday Apr 12, 2025
Saturday Apr 12, 2025
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.

Saturday Apr 05, 2025
With Guest Andy Karr
Saturday Apr 05, 2025
Saturday Apr 05, 2025
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

Sunday Mar 30, 2025
Neil Needs a Nudge - Tyson on Religion Stuck in the Literal -
Sunday Mar 30, 2025
Sunday Mar 30, 2025
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.

Tuesday Mar 25, 2025
Rip Sarah Wormald
Tuesday Mar 25, 2025
Tuesday Mar 25, 2025
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

Monday Mar 24, 2025
The 60s ZC and Hippies plus Unusual Stuff
Monday Mar 24, 2025
Monday Mar 24, 2025
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.

Sunday Mar 16, 2025
Are We Part of It or the Whole?
Sunday Mar 16, 2025
Sunday Mar 16, 2025
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.

Sunday Mar 09, 2025
With Guest Kokyo Henkel
Sunday Mar 09, 2025
Sunday Mar 09, 2025
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.

Sunday Mar 02, 2025
With guest Marta Dabis
Sunday Mar 02, 2025
Sunday Mar 02, 2025
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.

Monday Feb 24, 2025
Shunryu Suzuki's use of "most important" - 2
Monday Feb 24, 2025
Monday Feb 24, 2025
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