Monthly Archives: January 2024

Adapted from The Third Step East – When telling me about Shunryu Suzuki’s arrival in the United States, David Chadwick pointed out that Suzuki “landed in the middle of the Alan Watts Zen boom.” Two men, in particular, can be credited with preparing the way for the extraordinary success of early Zen teachers like SuzukiContinue reading “D. T. Suzuki and Alan Watts”

Blue Mountain Zendo, Bethlehem, PA – When he was 25 years old, Joriki Baker dropped a set of keys and, when bending over to pick them up, fell to the ground and was unable to get up. “I’d damaged my back in my teens body surfing,” he tells me. The injury had been considered healed,Continue reading “Joriki Baker”

Open Mind Zen, Melbourne, Florida – There are more than a dozen teachers identified on the Open Mind International website. Fusho Al Rapaport is the founder and director of the general organization and remains a teacher at the Melbourne, Florida, zendo although he tells me he no longer works much with beginners. His students areContinue reading “Al Fusho Rapaport”

Kwan Um School of Zen – The Kwan Um School of Zen (or Seon in Korean) began in Providence Rhode Island in 1983 and is now a global phenomenon. Its founder was the Korean monk, Seung Sahn, originally a member of the Chogye Order in Korea. He came to the United States in the 1970sContinue reading “Seung Sahn”