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 […]

In Memory Of Myogen Steve Stucky

I just learned that Zen Master Myogen Steve Stucky passed away on December 31, 2013 – just a couple of days ago. He was a wonderful man and beloved teacher. In the 1980’s, I sat Zen meditation with him in his home in Mill Valley with many other devoted students. He will be deeply missed […]

A Poem About Inner Life By Norman Fischer

Zoketsu Norman Fischer is a Zen priest in the tradition of Suzuki Roshi. When I first started learning Zen meditation in the mid 1980s, he was one of the priests I really connected to. I felt honored to be able to have dokusan (a private interview with a Zen teacher) with Norman some time around […]