the Buddha & the Teachings

Since 1972 my interior life has been guided and shaped by the teachings of the Buddha and my practice with several teachers.

Meditate on impermanence "Impermanence." Yes, if I ever make it to old age and death! In the 80's and well into the 90's, so many of my friends were dead or dying. There would be no shuffle board in our futures. The meditation on impermanence was just with us, mixed up with a lot of grief and loss. And this lead to a very unique take on Buddhism which might have made some ethnic practitioners and their devotees very nervous. But I never met any teacher who stopped any of us from taking refuge.

Issan Dorsey and me:

Rick Gerharter took this photograph in the garden of the Hartford Street Zen Center for an article I arranged to have published to gather more support for the Maitri AIDS Hospice. It was perhaps 6 months before Issan died and though very debilitated, he sometimes felt good enough for conversation in the afternoon. I loved him. I was not alone.

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