"He's big Suzuki, I'm little Suzuki."

In the literary world, Shunryu Suzuki has always played second fiddle to D.T. Suzuki. With David Chadwick's biography of this extraordinary man, Shunryu Suzuki will take his rightful place as one of the progenitors of American Buddhism. Chadwick, a long-time student of Suzuki's, takes us back to Suzuki's childhood, his entry into monastic life at age 13, subsequent trials with his ornery master and in the notoriously strict Eiheiji Monastery, as well as life as a houseboy with a British tutor to the Chinese emperor, marital tragedies, and the political minefield of World War II while he served as abbot of his own temple. The overarching theme of Suzuki's teaching is practice--in a community setting--and when he takes over a temple of aging Japanese Americans in San Francisco, his practice begins to attract younger Americans. The second half of Crooked Cucumber relates the phenomenal growth of the San Francisco Zen Center and becomes a biography of the growing community and its members, inasmuch as the center was Suzuki's life. A monk who was thought to be as useless as a crooked cucumber, under the pen of Chadwick turns out to be a brilliant, witty, tireless patriarch of American Zen. --Brian Bruya


From Publishers Weekly
From 1959 until his death in 1971, Zen master Shunryu Suzuki taught the principles and practice of Zen Buddhism to receptive audiences in San Francisco. In 1961, Suzuki founded the San Francisco Zen Center, where he taught hundreds of students hungry for the master's words on Zen. Chadwick, who studied with Suzuki from 1966 to 1971, collects stories from the master, or roshi's, many students about Suzuki's life and work and weaves them into a lively biography. Chadwick follows Suzuki's life from childhood in Japan to the tumultuous '60s in San Francisco. Drawing upon archival material in Japan and America, he peppers his account of Suzuki's life with generous quotes from the roshi's lectures, many of which are published here for the first time. When Chadwick asked Suzuki's widow for permission to write this book, she exhorted him to "tell many funny stories" about her husband. For example, when Suzuki became a monk at the age of 13, his master called him "Crooked Cucumber" because he seemed too scatterbrained and dull witted to be a Zen priest. Suzuki's master once remarked that he thought Suzuki would have very few disciples, and, as Chadwick notes, it was only when he came to America that Suzuki began to attract a large following. Another "funny story" Chadwick tells is that when people would confuse Shunryu Suzuki with the Harvard professor D.T. Suzuki, the roshi would say simply, "No, he's the big Suzuki, I'm the little Suzuki." Chadwick's biography provides a generous glimpse of the humanity and message of one of the great spiritual teachers of the modern world. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (LJ 11/1/70) has become a classic for those interested in Zen Buddhist thought of the Soto tradition. This wonderful biography by a Zen practitioner who was ordained by Suzuki is very welcome. Beginning in 1904, Chadwick describes Suzuki's childhood, education, the Zen masters he studied under at various temples, his time as a temple priest, and his attitude and actions during World War II. In 1959, with his wife and children still in Japan, Suzuki arrived in the United States to become the head of the Sokoji, later known as the Zen Center of San Francisco. Chadwick's presentation of Suzuki's teachings and their effects from the perspectives of the members of the center as well as Suzuki himself provide some of the highlights. The book is a wonderful resource for understanding both Suzuki and important aspects of Zen, based on Chadwick's memories of conversations with the master, his lectures, archival material, and interviews with those who knew him. Highly recommended.?David Bourquin, California State Univ., San BernardinoCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Review
"Suzuki left a lasting legacy as the man who introduced the spiritual discipline of Zen to the West . . . and Crooked Cucumber affords a wonderful opportunity to meet him."
--Los Angeles Times

"A generous glimpse of the humanity and message of one of the great spiritual teachers of the modern world."
--Publishers Weekly

"A moving and eloquent biography of that quiet man who was to become the most widely revered Zen teacher in this country.  Conveying his spirit lovingly and well, it becomes in itself a wonderful manifestation of his gentle teachings."
--Peter Matthiessen, author of At Play in the Fields of the Lord and The Snow Leopard

"It's impossible to imagine a better book about Suzuki-roshi.  Its precise picture of Suzuki's values, hopes, and problems makes it a major primer of Zen itself."
--Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

"A touching account of Suzuki-roshi's life, full of funny stories, brave and generous."
--Robert Bly, author of Iron John and The Sibling Society

"Shunryu Suzuki comes to life through these pages to a degree I would not have thought possible.  Chadwick has produced a remarkable biography of a truly remarkable man."
--Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions


Review
"Suzuki left a lasting legacy as the man who introduced the spiritual discipline of Zen to the West . . . and Crooked Cucumber affords a wonderful opportunity to meet him."
--Los Angeles Times

"A generous glimpse of the humanity and message of one of the great spiritual teachers of the modern world."
--Publishers Weekly

"A moving and eloquent biography of that quiet man who was to become the most widely revered Zen teacher in this country.  Conveying his spirit lovingly and well, it becomes in itself a wonderful manifestation of his gentle teachings."
--Peter Matthiessen, author of At Play in the Fields of the Lord and The Snow Leopard

"It's impossible to imagine a better book about Suzuki-roshi.  Its precise picture of Suzuki's values, hopes, and problems makes it a major primer of Zen itself."
--Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

"A touching account of Suzuki-roshi's life, full of funny stories, brave and generous."
--Robert Bly, author of Iron John and The Sibling Society

"Shunryu Suzuki comes to life through these pages to a degree I would not have thought possible.  Chadwick has produced a remarkable biography of a truly remarkable man."
--Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions

FROM THE PUBLISHER