Cuke Audio Podcast

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 - <spiritpruners.com>. In this podcast he talks about his youthful ZC memories but more about his recent experience of Tassajara where he takes a crew in the spring to trim trees. Deep stuff.

Jane and Peter Schneider are the founding teachers of the Beginner's Mind Zen Center in Northridge, a part of greater Los Angeles. <beginnersmindzencenter.org>They were students of Shunryu Suzuki. This is the third podcast with both of them and the third with Peter. In this podcast we focus on Jane's way-seeking mind story and then branch out to other reminiscences.

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 <vimeo.com/frazerbradshaw> and there's a link to it in the film/video section of cuke.com. He went on to make many other films. Check him out at frazerbradshaw.com or his film biz site, <peculiarpelicula.com> or on IMDB. Thanks Tano Maeda for letting me know about Frazer's Tassajara film which he featured in the 2003 (I think it was) Buddhist International Film Festival. Check out what Frazer has to say about Zen practice and film and Tassajara and more in this podcast.

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 <peacefulseasangha.org>. In this podcast Ed talks about his banishment from teaching, giving lectures, or leading sesshins at Green Gulch and the whole SFZC. He also talks about his prostate cancer, how The Tassajara Bread Book came about, and other subjects. The podcast ends with two brief excerpts from talks he gave at Green Gulch Farm six years ago that contain the words he spoke that offended a person who wrote a letter of complaint that led to Ed's ouster, the straw that broke the camel's back. There's also a surprise at the end of this podcast. 

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 <nelsonjblog.wordpress.com>.. More on John Nelson at his page on cuke.com.

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 Pokorny 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 Zen 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:  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.

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

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.

Going with a copasetic Balinese family to Besakih, the mother temple, and other news.

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.