In this podcast, Rev. Shōren Heather Iarusso, the Head of Practice at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, dialogues with San Francisco Zen Center Abbot Jiryu Rutschman-Byler about the publication of Becoming Yourself: Teachings on the Zen Way of Life—a collection of hitherto unpublished talks given by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. Abbot Jiryu collaborated with his late Dharma teacher Sojun Mel Weisman Roshi (1929–2021) in selecting and editing Suzuki Roshi’s lectures from dozens of raw recordings and transcripts. Abbot Jiryu and Heather discuss the genesis of the book, the editing process, and deciding upon the theme of becoming yourself.
“The point is to learn how to be yourself, how to be a person in the way that a stone is completely a stone.”—Shunryu Suzuki in Becoming yourself
In our conversation we discuss the importance of guiding principles and ethics in Zen practice, the transformative nature of practicing in a Zen community, the paradox of searching for what’s already present within each of us, moving beyond rigid morality to embody a loving, inclusive, and genuinely authentic way of life. Abbot Jiryu emphasizes the wise and playful intimacy of Suzuki Roshi’s teachings and his profound legacy on the contemporary practice of Zen. You can pre-order the book at the San Francisco Zen Center bookstore.
Jiryu Rutschman-Byler is an abbot of San Francisco Zen Center, serving as Abiding Abbot of Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. He began practicing at San Francisco Zen Center in 1996, was ordained as a priest by Seido Lee deBarros in 2002, and received Dharma Transmission in 2014 from Sojun Roshi.
Sojun Mel Weisman Roshi (1929–2021) was the founder and abbot of Berkeley Zen Center and an abbot of San Francisco Zen Center. He began practicing with Suzuki Roshi in San Francisco in 1964, was ordained as a priest by Suzuki Roshi in 1969, and received Dharma Transmission from Suzuki Roshi’s son, Hoitsu Suzuki Roshi, in 1984. He was a major progenitor of Suzuki Roshi’s Soto Zen lineage in the West and was a teacher to many Zen teachers, giving Dharma Transmission to thirty priests and Lay Entrustment to seven lay teachers over the course of his life. As one of the senior disciples of Suzuki Roshi, and among those most intimate with his teachings, he was instrumental in the editing of many of Suzuki Roshi’s published talks and was the co-editor of the book Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness.
If you enjoyed the intro and outro music, please support my friend Jefre Cantu who’s an amazing musician and a Zen priest. Thank you.
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