Author Archives: Rick McDaniel

Village Zendo, NYC Pat Enkyo O’Hara, the Abbot Emerita of the Village Zendo in New York City, grew up in Tijuana. “My mother was one of those wild people in the ’40s, and, when I was three, she divorced my dad who was this strict Catholic – alcoholic but strict Catholic – and ran offContinue reading “Pat Enkyo O’Hara”

Manzanita Village Retreat Center, San Diego County, CA Caitriona Reed is one of the co-founders of the Manzanita Village Retreat Center in San Diego, California. I note the remnants of a British accent, and she admits that she’s from the UK. “I came here on holiday forty years ago and forgot to go back. IContinue reading “Caitriona Reed”

When, in 2013, I began the set of interviews which were the basis of Cypress Trees in the Garden, I was still pretty naïve about the state of Zen in North America. I had assumed that the sites I had arranged to visit would be more or less similar to the center where I hadContinue reading “Josh Bartok”

Zen Mountain Monastery [This is an abridgement of my chapter on ZMM in Cypress Trees in the Garden.] John Daido Loori, the founder of Zen Mountain Monastery, had been dead for four years when I visited ZMM in 2013 to conduct a series of interviews. On my second day, I was introduced to the monastery’sContinue reading “John Daido Loori”

Zen Center of Los Angeles Katherine Senshin Griffith is an actress, writer, and comic performer. She is also the current Head Teacher at the Zen Center of Los Angeles. She was raised in Texas and, on occasion, slips back into the regional accent. Her father had been a professor at Our Lady of the Lake,Continue reading “Katherine Senshin Griffith”

Bright Sea Zen Sangha, Weymouth, MA When Kate Hartland was growing up, her parents were atheists, but Kate wondered if she was missing something. “My neighbors were all involved in churches, and I felt the lack of something.” So at the age of ten, she walked to a local church, “maybe a mile away,” wentContinue reading “Kate Hartland”

Russian River Zendo Cynthia Kear is a Soto priest in the Shunryu Suzuki lineage attached to the Russian River Zendo north of San Francisco and an articulate spokesperson for that style of Zen practice. She was raised on the East coast, but after college she moved across the country to the west coast. “I wasContinue reading “Cynthia Kear”

Zen Center of Denver Peggy Sheehan is one of the Spiritual Directors – along with Karin Kempe  – of the Zen Center of Denver founded by Danan Henry, an heir of Philip Kapleau. Both Peggy and Karin have medical degrees, although Karin is now retired. I ask Peggy if she is jealous. She laughs andContinue reading “Peggy Sheehan”

Bread Loaf Mountain, Vermont Joshin Byrnes is the founder and Guiding Teacher of the Bread Loaf Mountain Zen Community in Vermont. He is also active in Bernie Glassman’s “Zen Peacemakers” and continues the tradition of Street Retreats that Bernie had conducted, bringing Zen practitioners to live among the homeless in urban centers Joshin’s life storyContinue reading “Joshin Byrnes”