Koan study is central to the work being carried out at John Tarrant’s Pacific Zen Institute, but when David Weinstein, a supervising teacher at the Institute, first encountered koans, he resisted them. His Buddhist practice began in Nepal, where – while taking a break from teaching English abroad – he visited the Kopan Monastery outsideContinue reading “David Weinstein”
Monthly Archives: April 2020
John Tarrant
An updated profile of John Tarrant is available at: https://rbmcdaniel.ca/2026/05/06/john-tarrant-2/ Cypress Trees in the Garden: pp: 146, 155-72, 173-74, 175, 178-79, 182, 184, 191, 196, 197, 198, 212, 213, 231, 390, 417-18, 423, 468, 487. The Story of Zen: 196 Zen Conversations: 86-87
Sojun Mel Weitsman
During my meeting with the abbots at the San Francisco Zen Center in 2013 – during the very first interview I conducted – all three were wearing rakusus, the bib-like garment which represents the Buddha’s patch-work robe. Steve Stücky wore his over the traditional brown robes of a monk, Blanche Hartman over black, and MelContinue reading “Sojun Mel Weitsman”
Zenkei Blanche Hartman
This is the story Blanche Hartman told me about how she first became engaged in Zen practice: “One day in 1969 I was at the house of my best friend, and we were just having coffee. She had a headache, and it was so bad she asked me, ‘Could you see that?’ I said, ‘What?’Continue reading “Zenkei Blanche Hartman”
Richard Bryan McDaniel 