Beginner’s Mind

Shunryu Suzuki Roshi was the founding teacher of the San Francisco Zen Center. His simple teachings have inspired many new dharma teachers such as Myogen Steve Stucky, Zoketsu Norman Fischer, Wendy Johnson, and many others. My first experience at the San Francisco Zen Center was in 1972. I did a seven day sesshin there with […]

Spiritual Practice is Useless

Norman Fischer was the first Zen priest that I had dokusan with. Dokusan is a private interview with a Zen priest or Zen master. This was around 1985 or 1986. I remember the room and my sitting position, but I have forgotten the conversation. All I know is that I have admired him since even […]

Imagination Shapes Reality

My first Zen teacher was Dainin Katagiri Roshi in 1972 when I did a 7 day sesshin (an intense period of meditation) at the San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC). In the 80’s, when I regularly attended Monday night sitting practice, my teacher was Myogen Steve Stucky. At the  SFZC in Green Gulch Farm in Sausalito […]

Zen Meditation Practices Instructions

I did my first Zen meditation sesshin in 1972 at the San Francisco Zen Center with Zen Master Dainin Katagiri Roshi. A sesshin is a seven to ten day intense immersion in Zen meditation practices with instructions. Every now and then, you get to have a face to face meeting, called dokusan, with the Zen […]