Chapter thirteen of Crooked Cucumber, the Life and Zen Teaching of Shunryu Suzuki - Journeys - with comments at 1:21:18

Draft piece(s) for a work in progress - Tassajara Stories: the Early Years with Shunryu Suzuki. This podcast was originally posted with 12 minutes or so of blank space at the beginning and the end. I have no idea how that happened. So it's being reposted now. - dc

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 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, 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.