Author Archives: Rick McDaniel

Still Mind Zendo, New York City During the 1970s and ’80s, as skepticism about Christianity and Western religious traditions was becoming common, there was a corresponding upsurge of interest in Eastern meditation particularly among the young. At the time, Thomas Keating was the Abbot of St. Joseph’s Trappist Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts – the monasticContinue reading “Janet Jiryu Abels”

Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple, Portland, Oregon Kodo Conover is the “temple manager” of the Heart of Wisdom temple in Portland, Oregon. Originally a Methodist Epsicopal Church, the structure was built in 1891. The Methodists sold the building to a Ukrainian Orthodox congregation in 1959, who installed a three-bar cross on the steeple which stillContinue reading “Kodo Conover”

The Three Pillars of Zen Larry Johanson now lives in Ontario but grew up in Kingston, Jamaica. He tells me that when he was a child, violence was pervasive on the streets, in the home, and even in the school system. He was deeply unhappy and leery of the form of Christianity common in theContinue reading “Philip Kapleau”

Kansas City Zen Center Stan Lombardo and his wife, Judy Roitman, are the co-founders of the Kansas Zen Center. They are both Dharma heirs of Zen Master Seung Sahn in the Korean Kwan Um school, although Stan is probably better known as a classics scholar and translator. I note that “Lombardo” sounds Italian. “Sono siciliano,”Continue reading “Stan Lombardo”

Appamada Zen Center, Austin, TX Peg Syverson and Flint Sparks are the Senior Teachers at the Appamada Zen Center in Austin, Texas, although Peg lives in a suburb outside Chicago and Flint lives in Hawaii. The nature of Zen Centers has changed since the COVID-19 outbreak, and now many centers do much of their workContinue reading “Peg Syverson”

Dharma Rain, Portland, Oregon Kakumyo Lowe-Charde is the Dharma heir of Gyokuko Carlson. After serving as co-abbot of the Dharma Rain Zen Center in Portland, Oregon, with her in 2017 and ’18, he became primary Abbot when she retired in 2019. Dharma Rain itself, he informs me, is currently on a fourteen-acre site which hadContinue reading “Kakumyo Lowe-Charde”

Joyful Mind Zendo, Rockville, Maryland For Martine Palmiter there is a natural connection between the contemporary concept of being “woke” to racial or gender injustices inherent in societal structures and the concept of awakening found in Buddhism.  “I was raised American Baptist, and I loved going to church with my mother. And it was oneContinue reading “Martine Taikai Palmiter”

[This is an abridgement of my chapter on Taizan Maezumi in The Third Step East.] Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi was in the unique position of having teaching authority in three lineages, Soto, Rinzai, and Sanbo Kyodan (later called Sanbo Zen). No one was more qualified to promote Zen in the West. Born in 1931, he wasContinue reading “Taizan Maezumi”

Stone Willow Zendo, Spokane, WA Daya (Dianne) Goldschlag explains how the Stone Willow Zendo in Spokane, Washington, got its name. “In front of my house in Spokane is a big rock named Shunryu.” She has a soft-spoken – at times, almost shy – voice. “And there’s a wonderful story behind the rock coming here. It’sContinue reading “Daya Goldschlag”