Fredericton Zen Sitting Group

12/17/2025

https://rbmcdaniel.ca/2025/12/17/joko-beck/

A conversation with Peg Syverson – Joko Beck died in 2011, before I began doing these interviews. I never met her but have spoken with several people who knew her. Peg Syverson was one of the most …

12/03/2025

https://rbmcdaniel.ca/2025/12/03/leonard-marcel/

Seven Thunders – Leonard Marcel is a founding member – and current teacher – of Seven Thunders Zen Sangha in Portland, Oregon. He is also a retired psychiatrist and Jungian analyst. He grew up in B…

11/19/2025

https://rbmcdaniel.ca/2025/11/19/pat-hawk/

Abridged from Catholicism and Zen – Combining Zen practice and Catholicism is based in “the recognition in experience of a resonance between the two traditions. Many Catholics remark, after t…

11/06/2025

https://rbmcdaniel.ca/2025/11/06/michael-elliston/

Atlanta Soto Zen Center – Taiun Michael Elliston is the founder and guiding teacher of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center in Georgia. He grew up in Centralia, Illinois. “Named after the Illinois Central R…

10/22/2025

https://rbmcdaniel.ca/2025/10/22/dan-dorsey/

Zen Desert Sangha – Dan Dorsey is the resident teacher at the Zen Desert Sangha in Tucson. He grew up in Texas, and first encountered Buddhism in the library at Stephen F. Austin State University i…

10/08/2025

https://rbmcdaniel.ca/2025/10/08/nona-strong/

Empty Cloud Zen, California – Nona Strong of the Empty Cloud Zen Sangha in Northern California grew up in Oklahoma City. “Both my parents were from smaller towns in Oklahoma. And after World …

09/24/2025

https://rbmcdaniel.ca/2025/09/24/soyu-matsuoka/

09/17/2025

https://rbmcdaniel.ca/2025/09/17/glenn-webb/

Conversations with Genjo Marinello and Kurt Spellmeyer – “I came to Seattle in 1976 as a VISTA volunteer,” Genjo Marinello tells me. Genjo is the abbot of Dai Bai Zan Cho Bo Zen Ji. “I had already …

09/03/2025

https://rbmcdaniel.ca/2025/09/03/issan-dorsey/

Maitri Compassionate Care – Issan Dorsey died thirty-five years ago on Sept 6th, 1990, nearly a quarter of a century before I began this pilgrimage into the landscape of North American Zen. What I …

08/20/2025

https://rbmcdaniel.ca/2025/08/20/toni-packer/

An excerpt from The Story of Zen – Toni Eggert was born in Berlin in 1927. Her parents both held Ph. D.’s in chemistry; her father was instrumental in the development of color photography. When Ton…

08/13/2025

https://rbmcdaniel.ca/2025/08/13/don-stoddard/

Memories of Robert Aitken – “I’ve been a member of the Diamond Sangha since 1966 when the term referred only to the group practicing in Honolulu,” Don Stoddard tells me. “Now the term embraces grou…

07/17/2025

https://rbmcdaniel.ca/2023/09/20/alan-block/

Everyday Zen in Berkeley, CA Exciting things were happening elsewhere in the world as I was attending high school in the mid-’60s in LaPorte, Indiana (population 22,000). As the Bob Dylan put it, “…