Maezumi Memorial, ZCLA, August 27, 1995.

Lida and I drove from SLC to ZCLA, August 1995, for Maezumi Roshi's Memorial. 

I hope I can find more photos of this event. I have images so etched in my mind, they are almost physical, as if I can touch them on paper...but I think, in reality, in my robes—from Jim Curtis. They were too big for me and seemed to be made from teflon, but I so appreciated them and wore them for years. And the much smaller kimono underneath, from Jamie Curtis.—I dared not move too much or take many photos. In robes, August in LA, it was a sweltering day filled with sadness. Many great speakers and hundreds of devoted friends, family, and students.

The many students of Genpo Roshi (then Sensei) sat in their robes together under a tree in the shade, to the left of the audience in the backyard of ZLCA. I remember they sat in an informal yet socially-formalized hierarchical order....who sat next to whom was an unspoken ranking—and, it seemed, almost as important as any training. I was a nobody, so I chose to sit in the hot sun, in my teflon robes and kimono-binding-mummy-wrapping, in dead center of the audience. (Later I learned the who-whos of the people I sat near.) It gave me an interesting perspective.

I had met Maezumi Roshi a couple of times at ZCLA and Kanzeon SLC. I had been lucky enough to sit in his Zendo with him and have Dokusan with him (I was working on "Mu," of course!), to have him instruct me in Samu to weed in the ZCLA garden, and to visit with him in the kitchen in his home...the same kitchen I had heard of in many of Genpo "Sensei" Roshi's talks. I think of him often. He gave me great koans that I think of often, and have been chewing on for almost 30 years. They are delicious once masticated, but I do appreciate the toughness that has kept me engaged. (My favourite: Your job is to weed the garden. "Weed?" I muttered hunched and pretending to weed..."Some Zen that is! ....What are weeds?!" It's taken me 30 years to find out!)

Lida was a great travel companion...maybe too accommodating to my whims....which I'll share through pictures in future posts.