Philip Whalen

Adapted from The Third Step East – For many people in the 1950s and early ’60s, their first encounter with Zen came not from reading Philip Kapleau’s Three Pillars of Zen or Shunryu Suzuki’s Zen Mind, Beginners Mind but rather from reading Jack Kerouac’s 1958 novel, The Dharma Bums. By the 1940s, information about ZenContinue reading “Philip Whalen”

Walter Nowick

Moonspring Hermitage – Walter Nowick was one of seven children born to Russian immigrants who were potato farmers on Long Island. It was a cultured family. Walter’s mother insisted that her children take piano lessons. A local teacher came to the farm every Saturday from 9:00 in the morning until 6:00 in the evening toContinue reading “Walter Nowick”

Nelson Foster

Ring of Bone Zendo and East Rock Sangha Nelson Foster begins our conversation by telling me, bluntly: “As I’ve said to you before – fair warning – I really think this is a story of Zen communities and organizations, sanghas. Teachers come and go, but the Dharma stays with the Sangha. I see a focusContinue reading “Nelson Foster”