Author Archives: Rick McDaniel

Adapted from The Story of Zen – The transference of Buddhism to the west began in the post-Darwinian period at the end of the 19th century when rationalists began to have difficulty accepting the absolutes of the Christian creed but still  wanted to believe that there was a spiritual dimension to human life. As aContinue reading “Shaku Soen”

Howling Dragon Zen, Vermont – A book on physics first drew Jim Bastien to Zen Practice. He was working at Boys Town – the Catholic orphanage in Nebraska – “when I came across this book called The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra. I don’t know if you’re familiar with that book, but he wroteContinue reading “Jim Daikan Bastien”

Clear Water Zendo – Vallejo, California In 1875, a Russian woman named Helena Blavatsky and an American Civil War veteran, Colonel Henry Olcott, established the Theosophical Society in New York City. The term “theosophy” was coined from the Greek words theos (god) and sophia (wisdom) and was intended to convey the idea of a “divineContinue reading “Mary Mocine”

Shunryu Suzuki and Richard Baker In 2013, a small inheritance allowed me to undertake a pilgrimage to some of the major Zen Centers throughout North America. I had written a book – The Third Step East – about the pioneer figures who brought Zen to this continent, and although they were now all dead, theirContinue reading “San Francisco Zen Center”

Dai Bai Zan Cho Bo Zen Ji, Seattle The first ancestor (patriarch) of the Chinese Chan tradition was the Brahmin monk, Bodhidharma, who is credited with bringing the teaching to China from India. The opening koan of the Blue Cliff collection describes his meeting with the Emperor Wu, estimated to have taken place around theContinue reading “Rick Gendo Testa”

Deep Streams Zen, Los Angeles, California “I first encountered something like Buddhism when I was a freshman at CCNY,” Joseph Bobrow tells me. “I took a psychopathology lecture class with this dynamic teacher who was very Freudian but very open-minded, so I decided to take another class from him, a survey course on contemporary psychotherapyContinue reading “Joseph Bobrow”

Conversations with Genjo Marinello Roshi In 2015, I had the good fortune to spend a few days at Chobo-ji, the Rinzai Temple in Seattle. Each morning I was there, I joined the community for zazen at 5:30. There were usually about a dozen people in attendance, with perhaps twice as many zabutons. First a ritualContinue reading “Dai Bai Zan Cho Bo Zen Ji, Seattle”

Day Star Zendo – Wrentham, Massachusetts Cynthia Taberner helped to arrange my 2016 visit to Father Kevin Hunt’s Day Star Zendo in Wrentham, Massachusetts. The day I spent there became the basis of one the chapters of Catholicism and Zen. Kevin – who is a Trappist monk as well as a Zen master – hasContinue reading “Cynthia Taberner”

Everyday Zen in Berkeley, CA Exciting things were happening elsewhere in the world as I was attending high school in the mid-’60s in LaPorte, Indiana (population 22,000). As the Bob Dylan put it, “There was music in the cafés at night / And revolution in the air.” But most of that passed us by inContinue reading “Alan Block”