Rick McDaniel

Koun Franz

The first time I met Koun Franz, a friend and I had arranged to visit his center in Halifax. We arrived early and found the door locked. Then we saw a young man with a shaved head, wearing Japanese samugi, approaching with a wide smile. “Wouldn’t it be great if I wasn’t the guy?” heContinue reading “Koun Franz”

Mike Fieleke

Mike Fieleke is the resident teacher at the Morning Star Zen Sangha in Newton, Massachusetts. “I was raised Protestant,” he tells me, “and that actually planted the seeds of practice, because I felt as a child – I bet many children do – a kind of sacred presence that was a mystery to me thatContinue reading “Mike Fieleke”

Dang Nghiem [Huynh Thi Ngoc Huong]

At Blue Cliff Monastery outside Pine Bush, NY, Sister Dang Nghiem tells me people call her Sister D. She is Vietnamese by birth The Vietnamese language is tonal, and there is an element of that tonality in the way in which she speaks English. “My mother passed away by the time I was twelve, andContinue reading “Dang Nghiem [Huynh Thi Ngoc Huong]”

Sandra González

Driving along a county road in an agricultural region of New York State, I miss the side road to the Springwater Center on my first pass, come to a dead end, turn around, and watch more closely on the way back. Even when I pull onto the gravel road indicated, I’m not entirely sure I’mContinue reading “Sandra González”

Dosho Port

When I first met Dosho Port, he was still living and working outside of St. Paul, Minnesota, in a place called White Bear. It was not somewhere I was going to get to when I was doing my tour of centers in 2013, but, as chance has it, he was giving a workshop at theContinue reading “Dosho Port”

Taigen Henderson

The Toronto Zen Centre is on High Park Gardens in a well-to-do neighborhood on the west side of the city. I follow a stone path around the house to the back entrance passing carefully cultivated and maintained flower beds adorned with elegant Bodhisattva statues. Downstairs there is a Zendo (with about twenty-six places) and aContinue reading “Taigen Henderson”

Bodhin Kjolhede

An updated profile of Bodhin Kjolhede is available at https://rbmcdaniel.ca/2026/06/10/bodhin-kjolhede-2/ Cypress Trees in the Garden: 146, 204, 321-336, 340, 342, 344, 345, 346, 374, 375, 388, 402, 420, 468 Catholicism and Zen: 100-07, 168 The Story of Zen: 427 Zen Conversations: 117-18; 146-47

Genjo Marinello

I would eventually have an opportunity to spend time at Dai Bai Zan Cho Bo Zen Ji in Seattle, meeting its abbot – Genjo Marinello – and joining the regular morning sitting group not only for zazen but also for coffee at a local cafe which has a table waiting for them. No one blinksContinue reading “Genjo Marinello”

AZTA Conference – July 8, 2021

[photo above with Genjo Marinello Roshi] [The American Zen Teachers’ Association invited me to address their Annual Conference on July 8, 2021. This is the text of that speech.] I started writing because my leg broke. I’d been taking a medication for osteoporosis called Fosamax. You used to see a lot of ads for FosamaxContinue reading “AZTA Conference – July 8, 2021”