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

See all: Awakening the Archive