Suzanne Suarez Hurley
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Whatever you say, it is not the truth.
- calligraphy on Roshi's stick
- from Suzanne's notes - something he said.
Suzanne hand copied many Shunryu Suzuki lectures under kerosene lamp at Tassajara in 1974 and 75. After the fire burned down the library she gave a photocopy of them to the SFZC. At first she was told there were two lectures there not in the archive. But later she heard that they had them all. Peter Ford who works tirelessly on these archives carefully went over all of Suzuki's hand-written copies in 2016 to make sure and found nothing we didn't already have which does not in any way detract from her noble effort. She's had a Zen group in Florida - asking for info from her on that. - dc
from an email from Suzanne January 22, 2015 -
You asked me what I remembered about Suzuki Roshi. I
met him once right after I moved to San Francisco in 1969. My roommate Lynn
Hesselbar up in the Haight took me to SFZC for a lecture. I could not understand
much of what he said. I was all of 19 or 20 y.o. Later Lynn moved to Zen Center
and stayed.
I cannot say that I knew Suzuki Roshi but that I was
touched by him. I did know Dainin Katagiri and lived across the street from him
in Minneapolis for about nine months. I visited him and Tomoe and their boys
frequently. I had a close connection with him but lost touch and then found out
about his death after he was gone. That broke my heart. I remember the last time
that I saw him though. It was at Bill Kwong's in N. California. I heard he would
be there and arrived with some friends. I recall that, when we arrived, he was
standing with some people about twenty feet away. When he saw me, he turned
around and ran toward me with his robes flowing then grabbed me and we circled
around and around like children. He was lovely. I only wish that I could have
seen him again.
Robert, Nancy and Chris Pirsig were friends while I lived up there. Diane Darling and Robert and I put together the first newsletter of the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center. It was called Udumbara. That was what Katagiri Roshi wanted. I still have a copy of that somewhere. We published a lecture of his to the community. I left soon afterward to move to Tassajara.
I intend to return to The Farm community that I helped form starting in 1974 where my daughter and grandsons live. But can't start building my house there for a couple of years. In the meantime, I am working a LOT; commuting 1.5 hrs/day; keeping my organic garden; trying to keep my health; visiting my daughter/grandsons in TN when I can; running the little Zen Center; trying to keep our little newsletter going out monthly. All is OK. I did not get to visit California this year but hope to soon. I sent one of my (very young) students out for Rohatsu Sesshin at Michael Wenger's. He had a good time.
I talked with Nancy Pirsig ("James") recently; tracked her down in north Florida where she has some kind of practice and meditation center. I had not seen or spoken with her since before Chris was killed.