Featuring Shunryu Suzuki and students at Tassajara - whole and parts
and lots of stills from the film below
not on YouTube
Individual film links marked with 🎥 below are to download and play on your own device.
🎥 cuke edit - [7:51] All footage included except that of commenting students which is separately presented save for a brief view and statement from each. Where their audio was over zendo and other activity, it was replaced by 24 seconds of rain and thunder to join with the rain and thunder that follows and a minute of Suzuki outtake audio.
🎥 As in the film - the whole section as included in the film (10:37) - new edition 9-15
🎥 As in the film - short with all film of student comments cut and separately presented (6:10)
🎥 Shunryu Suzuki talking (2:09)
Student comments from the film - 🎥 Bill Shurtleff (2:32) - 🎥 Meg Gawler (:40) - 🎥 Alan Marlowe (1:13)
Stills from this film presented in a slide show. (2:51) and stills below with some names and now stills from the outtakes below that.
Section filmed at Tassajara from a feature 35 mm documentary for theaters featuring gurus - 70 summer. About 2008 Digitized off ca 2000 3/4" video copy of film. [new edit 9-25-15] See notes below for more on the film, link to transcriptions, and names of students in the scenes.
Outtakes - 2013 digitizing from film - color faded, dark
Outtake with sound - uncut 🎥 Shunryu Suzuki talking (5:29) [not sacrificing our lives for something wonderful]
Outtakes without sound
🎥 Working with Stones - Suzuki and students
🎥 Zendo early Morning - zazen, drum, robe chant, beginning of service
Zendo early Morning - 🎥 Suzuki parts -- 🎥 Reb Anderson carrying stick
🎥 Oryoki Meal in Zendo - Oryoki Meal 🎥 Suzuki parts
Other 🎥 Suzuki miscellaneous scenes from the film outakes
🎥 Scenes with students in the film outtakes
🎥 Dianne (Daya) Goldschlag on Densho (bell)
Stills from these below
Transcript from the film including transcript of outtake with Suzuki talking which is now here in the transcript archive including a link to the audio of Suzuki talking about listening to the birds.
Cast of characters
Jack Weller on drum, Reb Anderson with kyosaku-stick, Bill Shurtleff talking, bowing hands in gasho think that's Craig Boyan, ???, Lew Richmond, Amy Richmond, Angie Runyan I think under the kerosene lamp, looking from behind the partition that's my, DC, head, Shunryu Suzuki on alter with Reb, might be Maya Dreimane (sp?) carrying meal towels at first, Meg Gawler then Marian first two sitting chanting then eating, maybe Mitch Durrell next, ???, Charlie Dagelman, Jerry Halpern, Roovane ben Yumin in garden, Edward Brown with bucket of greens, Jack Elias washing greens, Roovane offering incense at garden altar, Craig Boyan getting hit with stick by Reb, Amy Richmond to Craig's left, Meg talking, Suzuki talking and think the kid when he's got the yoyo is Monica Linde, Mel Weitsman to the left below Reb in the bowl opening, Alan Marlowe talking, bearded young guy - Jeff?, Roovane in garden again, Suzuki, his jisha Mel Weitsman, anja Alan Marlowe walk to zendo, Reb on han, Marian Derby on the bells, not sure who's sitting bowing chanting in service - looks like Jerry Fuller on the right, sawing a pipes Tim Aston in front and Paul Discoe in back, Ed Brown at stove, David Chadwick on left standing up from bowing and Jerry Halpern behind, Will identify better and more in outtakes.
People in Outtakes
Working with Stones - Paul Discoe, Alan Marlow with tea, Mel Weitsman comes in next, again - think that's Monica Linde watching Suzuki with yoyo, then Tim Aston helping with stone,
Zendo Early Morning - Reb Anderson on the stick, there's DC again facing the partition, woman facing partition???, Jack Weller on drum, Mel Weitsman at altar with incense, so dark hard to make out who's bowing - maybe later get more names, Alan Marlow again, on the altar at the end by the mokugyo (wooden drum) maybe that's Lynn Warkov.
Oryoki Meal - Mel Weitsman bowing, Reb and Suzuki on the altar of course, maybe the female server is Maya mentioned before, man server??? serves Mel then DC, female serves Charlie Dagelman and bearded???, 3rd server is Jim??, female serves Meg Gawler, Jerry Halpern down the line in the glasses and Deborah Madison next to him, I think the cameraman had a crush on Meg, then the top of the head sweep and we can clearly see on the return Mel, DC, Jerry, Deborah, Charlie, bearded, Mitch, Marian, Meg. And the bearded server maybe named Jeff?
Note: Shunryu Suzuki is not using a Japanese monk's lacquer oryoki eating set and surely he had one. It's the same type as others used. That's just like him.
Suzuki Misc from Outtakes - He and Alan Marlowe looking at some plans, ??? walks by, woman in white with back to us is Ruthie Discoe, Suzuki talking with Ron Browning, procession to zendo same clip as film: jisha Mel Weitsman, anja Alan Marlowe,
Student, water, kettle, and Veggie Misc from Outtakes - Sitting holding chant cards on the left side of right isle is Mel, Angie, Steve Brown?, Roovane on the right front, not sure about most people, there's a close-up of Meg again, then Reb hitting clackers for meal chant, Mel, DC, Jerry Halpern (still), Roovane in garden - is that Leith? Walter with white hair?, Dianne (Daya) Goldschkag on bell, DC walks up to her, Jack Elias cutting veggies, long hair guy, long hair woman, unknown two by coffee/tea area, Reb's turn to hit the bell.
Note: notice how everyone is holding a chant card? I think we had to. That was the rule at Sokoji - so the ones who'd memorized couldn't feel superior.
IMDB page for (1973) - with no mention of Suzuki but very little on the film.
I have a faint memory of seeing the whole film - maybe at the Surf Theater in San Francisco. But I recall nothing. I've run into the producer, Ralph Harper Silver, every now and then, his wife Nancy Fish more, and dealt with director Frederick Amertat Cohn's office in 2000 or so when I had the film transferred to these 3/4" extra large video VHS cassettes which were only for professional or archival use. Cohn said to do anything we want with the film. Remember taking the image for cover of To Shine One Corner of the World off one of those tapes in 2001. Did the original digitizing off them in 2008 or so. That version retains the color whereas the digitizing I had done in 2013 revealed that the film had lost most of its color. There may be some other digitized versions at the SFZC City Center, surely if so, higher quality, and less likely to be archived as they would have been done for particular projects. - dc (9-18-15)