Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Teaching of Shunryu Suzuki by David Chadwick (PDF)

Description

Shunryu Suzuki is known to countless readers as the author of the modern spiritual classic Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. This most influential teacher comes vividly to life in Crooked Cucumber, the first full biography of any Zen master to be published in the West. To make up his intimate and engrossing narrative, David Chadwick draws on Suzuki’s own words and the memories of his students, friends, and family. Interspersed with previously unpublished passages from Suzuki’s talks, Crooked Cucumber evokes a down-to-earth life of the spirit. Along with Suzuki we can find a way to “practice with mountains, trees, and stones and to find ourselves in this big world.”

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This book is one you don’t want to end.Mr. Chadwick disappears into his subject in the perfect way, even when detailing conversations he had with his teacher, by letting the events and personalities he describes be the most important aspect of his writing. His Zen attributes shine through in his prose.The format he’s chosen, alternating quotes from the master with a generally chronological journey through the major events of his life, is also perfect. Loosely tied to the events he is describing, these quotes all offer food for thought on their own.Mr. Chadwick doesn’t try to mythologize Roshi, nor does he hide the human failings of a man whose dedication to the teachings of the Buddha found him severely tested many times in his life. We come to know in a small way this unique human being who brought his prescient vision of what Buddhism is becoming in the West to vibrant life.An additional gift of the book is the view of what happened during Roshi’s life in Japan (born 1905), and how Buddhists who differed from the fascist society that poisoned the culture for a long time were able to survive.All Buddhists will find much to revere about this tough and tender, fierce and kind human being in Chadwick’s loving guide to Shunryu Suzuki’s life.Non-Buddhists too will gain a picture of what Zen is all about, and in doing so will come to see how a person becomes a Boddhisattva.Gassho

⭐After having read “Not Always So”; I thought this book would have more teaching in it. But, because is is an autobiography, it was more about Shunryu Suzuki’s life. It was most moving, the difficulties and trials that he went through. And I want to thank Shunryu Suzuki for bringing Zen teaching to America!!! Because I am a mental health counselor, I especially appreciate it. I am also in a Meditation/Spiritual Group with Zen teachings. This book was a great way to get to know the teacher behind the teaching, how he lived his life, and an example for us all. A peacemaker, a Zen teacher, and a wonderful human being. Thank You!!

⭐As a retired academic, I have read way too much in my life. As an obsessed wisdom-seeker, it’s worse.But to read the same book six times is ridiculous. And I have read Crooked Cucumber (head hung) six times, because it has become what very few books have become in my long reading history: a good friend.Chadwick is simply that good, that approachable and accessible, that disarming, that skilled a biographer and thorough a historian.Of course, his subject had those qualities, too, (uh, he wasn’t a biographer) and that clearly sustained Chadwick’s dedication.And if these qualities aren’t enough, Chadwick’s book also happens to be a valuable resource for America (esp. San Francisco) in the Sixties, how cultures emigrate to and from other cultures, how human beings deceive and un-deceive themselves, and more. It goes without saying that you will get to know a very worthwhile person intimately, and perhaps feel you have been wisely counseled by an authentic Zen master.Of course, I suggest that you buy this book. But if you start re-reading it a fourth time, you might consider getting some therapy.

⭐I have read many books in my 71 years. Shunryu Suzuki was my teacher starting in 1967. I attended San Francisco Zen Center and also Tassajara, Zen Mountain Center. I had deep encounters with him and practice which goes beyond words into clarity beyond mind. He could be playful, serious and above all filled with compassion and wisdom. I cannot recommend this excellent book enough. I think even if someone is not Buddhist the depth here transcends everything, the universe in a sunflower. I was the one he talked about with the sunflower as I was meditating in the vegetable garden and he asked me what I was doing and tried it. This book isa re-read of many times. Each time I read it I get more from it. I especially like when he says meditation is not for some state of mind to grasp . I will always remember him and when I read this book I learn more and more beyond reading and words.

⭐Well written and apparently well researched. Roshi Suzuki’s personality really comes through, adding a personal perspective onto the larger topic of Buddhism’s rise in the US. However, I highly recommend as a companion book, Shoes Outside the Door by Michael Downing, for a closer look at Roshi Baker’s extensive misbehavior and its dire consequences to many members of SF Zen Center. It certainly seems that Roshi Suzuki made a fatal error in appointing Baker as his successor. Whereas Chadwick stays focused on his goal of insider’s biography, Downing uncovers the rest of the picture with in-depth reporting skills and excellent questions— unanswered, of course— about whether there is something inherent in Zen Buddhism that makes its students/adherents particularly vulnerable to master/student exploitation. This is a wake-up call to Buddhist Centers everywhere to design and implement policies and practices that deter this misbehavior and identify and change it much earlier when it does occur.

⭐This is a warts and all biography of Suzuki.Great teacher for sure, maybe not such a good family man.The early background in Japan was fascinating.Temple Zen as a family ‘father to son’ business.Chadwick interviewed lots of people but the book really comes ‘alive’ after Chadwick joins the Zen centre and reports events through his own eyes.First class, highly recommended.

⭐Have really enjoyed reading about this man. Perhaps some areas could have been written in a better order as it gets a little bit confusing in places.However this would not stop me buying this book. You come to love a great personality. Every time I put the book down I had a smile on my face. It is also a great account of the times Suzuki lived in, particularly the Second World War in Japan. An intriguing Man not failed at all by his biographer who gets across the motivations and flaws of Suzuki very well indeed.

⭐For those of us who didn’t get the opportunity to meet Shunryu Suzuki, this book is a captivating read about how Soto Zen became a World religion, rather than a purely Japanese practice.

⭐Great

⭐What an amazing journey he had in his life, and it comes through what a wonderful soul he was. It gives you such an insight into his life and about his teachings

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