Thanks for exploring the new Suzuki Roshi archive.

On behalf of San Francisco Zen Center, Engage Wisdom is honored to present the complete collection of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi's recorded talks. Based on our recent archival research, digitization and restoration efforts, a wealth of never-before heard recordings are included here, alongside all previously known recordings and transcripts.

Every recording hosted here is of improved audio quality, compared to previously released Suzuki Roshi collections. Engage Wisdom's proprietary automated audio remastering reduces the background noise, balances tone and volume throughout the talk, and improves speech clarity from all sources, whether cassette tape, reel-to-reel, or previously digitized formats. For some very old or damaged recordings, we can further improve the results by manually remastering and restoring the audio, and work continues on this. 

You are invited to Search the complete collection, and Donate to support the SFZC audio archives

Ways to Engage

This is a living archive that depends on input from people like you to unlock the wisdom it contains. To get started, here are a few categories that you may want to peruse and help out with the tagging, transcription, or adding descriptions:

Dozens of newly discovered Suzuki Roshi talks!
See New Audio Talks

Through the course of this recent work, we have recovered and restored more than two dozen talks by Suzuki Roshi most of which haven't been heard in over 50 years. These are NEW Suzuki Roshi recordings, that were previously unknown to exist, or for which we previously either had only a transcript or only a partial audio recording. Many of these will be featured in the Awakening the Archive series, and several are still in need of transcription and keywords, so editing work is welcome on these.   

Enjoy Improved Audio:
See Improved Audio Talks

These are significantly improved recordings, many of which were previously unintelligible and were not able to be transcribed until now (these may appear with the hashtag #inaudible as well). These have been recoverd either from newly discovered master tapes, or through extensive digital remastering and restoration of the existing audio. Please see if we can make out more of Suzuki Roshi’s words now that the background noise has been reduced, and you're welcome to edit and improve the transcripts accordingly.

Please Help Transcribe: 
See Talks to Transcribe

This includes many talks from the above categories:  if you happen to have the available time and enthusiasm for improving the archive, your transcription and description efforts would be very much welcome on any of these talks. For guidance on how to edit the descriptions, keywords, transcripts, etc. just click the Help link at the top of any page, and also see the Editing Guide for more info.  

History of the Archival Efforts:
Read the History
This article tells the history of the many rounds of preservation work that have led to this present collection. These improved and newly discovered recordings come to us by innumerable efforts and contributions, and through the stewardship of many of Suzuki Roshi's devoted disciples. With deep gratitude, may we continue to study and unfold the words and teachings of our compassionate founder.

Do you have any tapes of Suzuki Roshi which do not appear here?
Check the Archive
The present collection contains all recordings of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi known to still exist, but many more recordings have been lost since they were originally made. If you have a copy of a recording that you think is not yet included in the archive, you can check this by searching for the date or the first few words of the talk (click Search at the top of this page). If the tapes you have seem to not be included here, please do email us at contact@engagewisdom.com with a photo of the tape, or the date and title, and we'll be glad to coordinate the addition of this talk to the collection. 

Thank you very much!

 

Search the complete collection.

Donate to support the SFZC audio archives

Awakening the Archive

Every two weeks, a significant or newly-discovered Suzuki Roshi talk is featured with an in-depth description giving context, history, and connections.... Read More

Featured Talks

Not Sticking to Enlightenment

Feb 12 1971
Part: B

City Center

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #26, by Shundo David Haye =====

It's not completely clear how this talk dropped off the radar, as the tape had been copied and transcribed previously...

Sesshin, Sixth Patriarch

Tokusan and The Old Lady

Feb 19 1966
Part: 1:00pm

Sokoji

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #10, by Shundo David Haye =====

This is another track from the same problematic reel as the previous two talks in this series. Initially, it seemed to be a...

Sesshin, Diamond Sutra

Where There is Some Limitation, There is Universality

Feb 18 1966

Sokoji

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #9, by Shundo David Haye =====

This talk is found on the same reel as the one previously discussed (https://suzukiroshi.engagewisdom.com/talks/tokusan-and-old-...

Sesshin, Dogen

Zazen Practice and Listen to the Right Teacher

Aug 03 1970

City Center

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #24, by Shundo David Haye =====

In the last years of Suzuki Roshi's life, very few talks were lost from the collections. The previously available...

Sesshin, Dogen, Bodhidharma, Precepts

Genjo Koan continued

Mar 13 1966

Sokoji

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #11, by Shundo David Haye =====

In the spring of 1966, having previously spent a number of years primarily lecturing on the Blue Cliff Record, Suzuki Roshi...

Dogen, Genjokoan

To Polish A Tile Is Our Practice Actually

Aug 23 1967

Tassajara

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #18, by Shundo David Haye =====

Further to the date confusion and missing talks discussed last time, it seems that even Suzuki Roshi lost track of time during...

Sesshin, Prajna Paramita, Shobogenzo

Shosan Ceremony

Sep 10 1968

Tassajara

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #23, by Shundo David Haye =====

This was the last of the three 5" reels that appeared to be from the summer of 1968, but there were no visual clues beyond...

Shosan

Genjo Koan no 2

Aug 21 1967

Tassajara

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #16, by Shundo David Haye =====

This third talk from the historic inaugural sesshin at Tassajara in 1967, given the day after the first two, is divided into...

Sesshin, Dogen

We Are Always Helping Others

Jul 23 1966
Part: B

Sokoji

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #13, by Shundo David Haye =====

This tape is, happily, the last of the messed-up recordings from the first half of 1966. It is the first of two talks from the...

Shushogi

Real Calmness Is In A Noisy Place

Mar 26 1966

Sokoji

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #12, by Shundo David Haye =====

This talk is another example of a track that was somehow overlooked for many years, while the...

Sesshin, Shobogenzo, Beginner’s Mind

Tokusan and The Old Lady

Feb 19 1966
Part: pm

Sokoji

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #8, by Shundo David Haye =====

At Zen Center, responsibilities get passed on from person to person regularly. One part of traditional Zen training is that a...

Genjokoan

Pure Rules

Jul 28 1965
Part: 9:00am

Sokoji

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #6, by Shundo David Haye =====

The value of these sets of recordings during sesshins in the summer of 1965 at Sokoji is that not only were the formal dharma...

Sesshin, Instruction

When You Have A New Experience

Aug 20 1967
Part: Evening

Tassajara

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #15, by Shundo David Haye =====

This talk was given later on the same day of the first Tassajara sesshin as the last one discussed (https://suzukiroshi....

Sesshin

Bodhidharma

Jul 29 1968

Tassajara

 ===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #22, by Shundo David Haye ===== 

In this second tape made by Dan Gourley at Tassajara in the summer of 1968, Suzuki Roshi starts by...

Beginner’s Mind, First Principle, Time

Study Yourself

Sep 09 1965

Los Altos

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #4, by Shundo David Haye =====

"I always felt his best Zen talks were the ones he gave on Thursday mornings in my home. They were spontaneous, succinct and...

Dogen, Genjokoan, Rinzai

Calmness

Aug 26 1965

Los Altos

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #3, by Shundo David Haye =====

In this talk, which became the Calmness chapter of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (p121), Suzuki Roshi starts with a Japanese Zen...

Dogen, Zazen

Beginner's Mind

Nov 11 1965

Los Altos

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #1, by Shundo David Haye =====

When this particular, otherwise unremarkable, reel was photographed as part of Engage Wisdom’s archiving process, unlike...

Beginner’s Mind, Dogen, Precepts

Lunch Instruction

Jul 28 1965
Part: 12:00

Sokoji

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #7, by Shundo David Haye =====

This is a second short instruction from the same day of sesshin as the Pure Rules talk (https://suzukiroshi.engagewisdom.com/...

Sesshin, Oryoki, Instruction

Lay Ordination Ceremony

Aug 23 1970

City Center

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #25, by Shundo David Haye =====

This tape, which is unfortunately very poorly recorded, gives us a sense of the lay ordination ceremony that took place at City...

Precepts, Ceremony

Reflections on the Prajna Paramita Sutra

Aug 24 1967

Tassajara

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #19, by Shundo David Haye =====

This is the talk that was chosen by the Wind Bell...

Sesshin, Sengai, Time

Wisdom Seeks For Wisdom

Jul 22 1965

Los Altos

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #2, by Shundo David Haye =====

Among the tapes previously known to exist in the Zen Center archives, the earliest were from a sesshin held at the end of July...

Precepts, Genjokoan, Instruction

Buddhism Is Not a Special Teaching; Enlightenment Is Not a Particular Stage

Aug 23 1967

Tassajara

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #17, by Shundo David Haye =====

About half way through this sesshin talk, you can start to hear crickets in the background, getting louder over the remaining...

Sesshin, Dogen, Genjokoan

Think the Unthinkable

Dec 04 1967
Part: Afternoon

Tassajara

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #20, by Shundo David Haye ===== 

This talk comes from the middle of the second sesshin at Tassajara, in December 1967. Unlike the extreme heat...

Sesshin, Fukanzazengi

Genjo Koan

Aug 20 1967
Part: Morning

Tassajara

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #14, by Shundo David Haye =====

The acquisition of Tassajara in 1967 was a huge leap for Zen Center. Suzuki Roshi had long been interested in finding a...

Genjokoan, Dogen, Sesshin

Forgotten the Value of Religion

Jul 27 1965
Part: 1:00pm

Sokoji

===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #5, by Shundo David Haye =====

The oldest recordings of Suzuki Roshi made at Sokoji, the home of the San Francisco Zen Center at the time, come from a week-...

Sesshin, Dogen, Shobogenzo, Inmost Nature

Bring Me The Rhinoceros Fan

Jul 28 1968

Tassajara

 ===== Awakening the Archive - Tape #21, by Shundo David Haye ===== 

For whatever reason, there are few talks existing from the summer of 1968. At Tassajara, in the spring...

Koan