Rick McDaniel

Hozan Alan Senauke

In the midst of the Vietnam War, students at Columbia protested the university’s involvement in the war effort by occupying the administration building. The police intervened with force. 132 students, four faculty members as well as twelve police officers were injured, and over 700 protesters were arrested. Alan Senauke – Vice Abbot of the BerkeleyContinue reading “Hozan Alan Senauke”

Rebecca Li

Rebecca Li teaches within the North American Chan tradition. “Zen” is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese character denoting “Chan” – 禪. The practice first arose in China, and the classic koan collections are all Chinese. Rebecca is a second-generation Dharma heir of Chan Master Sheng Yen, whose Dharma Drum Foundation now has affiliate centersContinue reading “Rebecca Li”

Zengetsu Myōkyō Judith McLean

Enpuku-ji is a small Rinzai temple on rue Saint-Dominique in Montreal. It is entered through a small side-garden. The only signage is a notice on the gate post bearing the single word “Zen,” an arrow pointing right, and the street address. The abbess, Myokyo Judith McLean walks up the street just as I pull intoContinue reading “Zengetsu Myōkyō Judith McLean”

Jan Chozen Bays

The Great Vow Monastery is located in Clatskanie, Oregon, a self-proclaimed Christian township of 1700 persons. It is the residential practice center for the Zen Community of Oregon and is under the leadership of Jan Chozen Bays and her husband, Hogen. Great Vow is dedicated to Jizo Bodhisattva, the protector of children, which seems appropriateContinue reading “Jan Chozen Bays”

David Weinstein

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”

John Tarrant

One of the Zen teachers I was most eager to meet when I undertook my pilgrimage was John Tarrant. I had been taking a medication for osteoporosis – Fosamax – which had this peculiar side effect: it resulted in spontaneous femur breaks. One didn’t fall and break one’s leg; one’s leg broke and then oneContinue reading “John Tarrant”

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”

Myogen Steve Stücky

I begin this new blog during the Covid-19 crisis, a time when many people are in self-imposed quarantine, air travel between countries has been virtually suspended, and there is fear that the medical system is inadequately prepared to respond to the situation. The crisis brings to mind the basic Buddhist teaching regarding the Three CharacteristicsContinue reading “Myogen Steve Stücky”