This book has been very much a collaborative effort. I would like to extend my particular thanks to the nearly one hundred interviewees and contributors to the collection, most of whom the reader may find acknowledged individually in the text and in the Endnotes. Their patience and generosity in meeting and sharing so openly with me was truly extraordinary. Of these, I would especially like to thank Roshi Philip Kapleau, Walter Nowick, Robert Aitken Roshi, Kobun Chino Roshi, Bernie Glassman, Mel Weitsman, Blanche Hartman, Gerry Shishin Wick, Steve Allen, Michael Wenger, Jitsudo Ancheta, Mitra Bishop, Anne Waldman and Andrew Schelling of Naropa University, and Michael Hotz and Peter Haskel of The First Zen Institute of America. Great gratitude goes also to Maezumi Roshi for being my first teacher, and providing me with such an impeccable introduction to the dharma.
The present form of this book owes much to the influence of John Daido Loori Roshi, and in particular, to my editor at Renaissance Books, Joe McNeely, both of whom pushed me (sometimes against my considerable resistance!) to add extensive background information and personal accounts into what I'd originally conceived of as a simple assembly of Zen anecdotes. The book is much the better for their efforts. I would also like to thank my agent, Peter Rubie, for seeing the potential of the project and for placing the book so skillfully, and my editor at St. Martin's Press, Marie Estrada, for her clear vision and for picking up the project with such enthusiasm.
In addition I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my wife, Tania, whose editorial assistance in multiple close readings of the text was invaluable and whose patience throughout the duration of this project was inexhaustible, and to my parents, Harold and Ruth Garner, whose unflinching faith and support through my years of spiritual exploration has gone far beyond the call of duty. And, of course, to Natalie Goldberg, for her unrelenting encouragement, and for sharing so deeply of herself, her experiences, and her many friends and contacts in the dharma.
I would also like to extend my sincere gratitude and acknowledgments to the many people at Zen Mountain Monastery who helped in the process of writing this book: to Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, and the ZMM and Dharma Communications staff and residents, for facilitating my multiple visits and allowing me to pursue my writing and research as an aspect of my practice, as well as for giving me free access to the library, media archives, and themselves. To Konrad Ryushin Marchaj, Ron Hogen Green, and Joy Jimon Hintz, who read and commented on the project at various stages of its development and provided valuable guidance and clarification; to Hogen (again) and Cindy Eiho Green, as well as to Rafe Martin, for their great generosity in arranging my meeting with Roshi Kapleau, and to Stephen Leff for contributing greatly of his time and energy in helping to arrange my meeting with Walter Nowick. To Bonnie Myotai Treace, Jody Hojin Kimmel, Yukon Grody, Pat Jikyo George, Lisa Kyojo Smith, Diane Kosei Hartel, Sybil Seisui Rosen, Chris Trevelyan, Kay Senyu Larson, and anyone else I've inadvertently overlooked, for their support, information, and encouragement, and for pointing me in various right and helpful directions.
To Miss Christy Bright, Setman Walker, Cliff Clusin, and Madeleine, Moira, Mark, and Kristen Murphy, and Mirabai and Jenny Starr for providing essential assistance with shelter and accommodations; to George Cane, Clark Strand, Peter Matthiessen, Jean Smith, Sandy Boucher, and David Chadwick, for various aspects of writerly advice; to Arthur Morey, for formatting the final manuscript; to Diana Stetson, Keith Abbott, and Lisa Levine, for providing artwork; to Lynn Beheler, for assisting with transcriptions and proofreading; to Michael Sierchio, for permitting use of his Den Chun stories despite my clumsiness in asking; to Marcia Rose, Steven Smith, Colin Egan, Paul Sowanick, Angelique Farrow, Kensho Miyamae, Diane Chase, Michele Huff, Jean Leyshon, Lou Hawthorne, Anne Cushman, Peter Gregory, Joe Kinczel, Steve Kishin Shupe, Katharine Kaufman, and Paul Gyodo Agostinelli for numerous valuable forms of assistance.
And to additional participants Bodhin Kjolhede Sensei, Ilia Shinko Perez, Syd Musei Walter, Taiyo Lispcomb, Guoyan Fashi, Ji Hyang Su Nim, Nancy Maxo, Shinpo Matt Seltzer, Molly Gordon, Stephen Rose, Barbara Zaring, Alvaro CardonaHines, Barbara McCauley, David and Rebecca Slaymaker, and Lucy Brennan, for their time and efforts.
I'd like also to extend my gratitude to all the staff, residents, and practitioners at the many dharma centers to which I traveled, who were universally welcoming, enthusiastic, and helpful to the project.
Although I have tried to be as comprehensive as possible, within the limits of such a broad-ranging project it has simply not been possible to give all lineages and teachers of Zen in America the equal representation they deserve. I therefore offer my sincere apology to any individuals or sanghas who have been overlooked in this collection.
Finally, a big thank you goes to my current editors, Greg Brandenburgh and Vanessa Ta and their staff at Hampton Roads Publishing, for their great patience and care in seeing the possibilities for this new edition and guiding it into print.
In closing I feel compelled to note, and pay respect to, a number of teachers who participated in this book, but who have passed on since the first edition appeared in 2002. These include my own beloved primary Zen teacher, John Daido Loori, as well as Philip Kapleau, Robert Aitken, Seung Sahn, Kobun Chino, and Philip Whalen. Time moves on and the dharma wheel turns, but my heart swells with gratitude and sorrow as I type their names here. All of them are sorely missed..