Posted 9 years ago
ho2cultcha
(5051 items)
This picture of Ramana Maharshi was on Issan Dorsey's wall for many years. Issan was the founder of the Hartford Street Zen Center and Maitri Hospice in San Francisco. The book 'Street Zen' is one of his biographies. This is the image of Ramana Maharshi mentioned below - and very important to Issan. He left the photo to me when he died in 1993. The only identifiable thing about it is a note on the back which says 'If found, lost, or misplaced, please return to Hartford Street Zen Center, 57 Hartford St, San Francisco, CA'. Ramana Maharshi also had an amazing story. He began the movement of 'self-enquiry' which some people argue is the basis for modern psychology and psychotherapy. I've had it on my wall since shortly after Issan died. Issan was a prostitute, drag queen, and drug addict until he made it to Shunryo Suzuki's doorstep in San Francisco. He eventually became the abbot of the Zen Center and was recognized as a Roshi [Wise Old Master in the Soto Zen tradition]. He was my first friend in San Francisco and a very important part of the history of Buddhism in the West.
i just read this from wikipedia: 'In the 1960s he [Issan Dorsey] returned to San Francisco, where he continued to shoot speed and engaged in dealing drugs on lower Haight Street. He founded his own commune and also managed a rock band.[2] During this period he had a spiritual experience under the influence of LSD while observing a photograph of Ramana Maharshi. He constructed an altar with Maharshi's photograph, where he would shoot speed and gaze at the picture for several hours. Soon, he gave up using drugs and started sitting zazen at the San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC) under the guidance of Shunryu Suzuki.[3] In 1980 (while Dorsey was director of SFZC) he became a member of The Gay Buddhist Club, which eventually became known as the Hartford Street Zen Center (HSZC).[4] Originally a discussion group for gay Buddhists, the group eventually began sitting zazen in the basement of one member's house at 57 Hartford Street. In 1987[5] Dorsey had created a hospice (Maitri Hospice) within the Zen center on Hartford Street, serving primarily gay men who were dying of AIDS. Eventually Dorsey was made a S?t? priest by his teacher—Zentatsu Richard Baker—installed as abbot of HSZC in 1989 and given the Dharma name Issan (meaning "One-Mountain").[2] Shortly before death, in particularly poor health, Issan was recognized as a roshi.[6] On September 6, 1990, Issan Dorsey died of complications linked to AIDS.[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramana_Maharshi
Thanks for sharing this image and the story of ISSAN DORSEY !!!!
thank you vetraio50! it's always a pleasure to share Issan's story w/ others. he was very special and a huge influence on my life and for many others too.
here's another short piece from the New York Times where he mentions the picture too. this is about Issan during the time when i was close to him. i remember when j.d. moved in. when issan arrived on the doorstep of Suzuki, he was so messed up from a life of partying his wig off, that he couldn't even remember his own name. he said nothing for the first month, but merely focused on what / who was right in front of him at that moment. he never judged anyone in a bad way, but instead respected everyone to know what they needed for themselves. when he would give away his entire month's salary of $45 in quarters to people begging on the streets, i asked him why when it was just going to be used for more bad wine and drugs. he said, 'well that must be what they need. who am i to tell them what they need and don't need? even dying is just another way to heal.' or something like that. when he died, the thing i missed the most was the sound of him chanting Hannya Shingyo / Heart Sutra and folding his clothes in the most perfect way humanly possible. every now and then he would pull out a bottle of wine or liquor and we'd indulge until we were laughing and rolling on the floor! the last time i saw him, we had gone out to eat w/ some friends who were writing a book on gay america. the next day i was on a flight to honduras where i lived in the jungle for two years. i picked up the book by pure luck [i didn't even realize it was by those guys we had had dinner with] a few years later, and there was a very accurate account of that dinner in it, including me leaving for honduras the next day!
http://www.katybutler.com/publications/newyorker/index_files/ny_tot_issandorsey.htm
This is wonderful. I was in a number of caregiver groups in the 80’s in SF. Would love to know more about this. Issan changed my life.