Cuke Audio Podcast

With Guest Micah Sawyer

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.

With Guest Jim Mussman

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.

With Guest Alan Senauke

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. 

With Guest Leland Smithson

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.

With Guest Laura Burges

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.

With Guest Robert Gove

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.

With Guest Lee Klinger Lesser

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).  

With Guest Tim Burkett

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.

With Guest Christopher Miller

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

With Guest Chris Miller

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:  Searching for the  Path Within: from Poetry to Zen in the Sixties, under the pen name Christopher Lennox - the Zen part is on cuke.com.