Afterword

Many years have passed. Bob published Lila in 1991, and he and I raised a daughter in Maine. After his death in 2017, I was drawn to renew the study of Zen, which I had practiced intermittently, and to explore some of the rich archival treasures of San Francisco Zen Center on cuke.com. I also found a teacher who had trained with people I had known there, some of the many who have taught Zen all over the United States. As a student now at Zen Center North Shore, in Massachusetts, led by Joan Amaral as guiding teacher, I recognize practices and traditions I encountered decades ago in San Francisco, and see ways my six weeks there shaped my life. Even though I never did “become a monk” in the way I pictured then, I am still on the path of meeting “things as it is,” as taught by Shunryu Suzuki and his students. This journal is offered as a piece of historical record of that place and time.

                 — November 20, 2022