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Street Zen: The Life and Work of Issan Dorsey Paperback – June 9, 2020

by David Schneider (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 60 ratings
See all formats and editions
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Drag queen. Prostitute. Drug addict. American bodhisattva.

These words describe the unlikely persona of Issan Dorsey, one of the most beloved teachers to emerge in American Zen. From his early days as a gorgeous female impersonator to the LSD experiences that set him on the spiritual path, Issan's life was never conventional. In 1989, after twenty years of Zen practice, he became the Founding Abbot of San Francisco's Hartford Street Zen Center, where he established Maitri Hospice for AIDS patients. Featuring Bernie Glassman's foreword to the second edition, as well as a new foreword by Koshin Paley Ellison, Street Zen paints a vivid portrait of a teacher whose creativity, honesty, joy, and compassion awakened new possibilities for American Buddhism.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    288 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Shambhala
  4. Publication date
    June 9, 2020
  5. Dimensions
    5.45 x 0.74 x 8.45 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1611808472
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1611808476
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

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“Street Zen is about much more than the life of Issan Dorsey—it is an exploration of how the material of our whole lives can be used as fuel for awakening. Issan teaches us that becoming a Bodhisattva means learning how to hold compassionate space for the process of becoming who we need to be in order to set others free. Bodhisattvas emanate to meet the needs of those of us lost in the sea of delusion. Issan’s life is a profound and timely expression for so many of us who do not see ourselves reflected in dharma communities.”—Lama Rod Owens, author of Love and Rage and coauthor of Radical Dharma
 
“This is a fantastic book about a character I have long wanted to make a film about. A devastating life, and a heroic conclusion.”—Gus Van Sant, director of Good Will Hunting and Milk
 
“A memorable account of an extraordinary man, unlike anyone I have ever known, whose life was full of strangeness, simplicity, and grace.”—Joan Halifax, author of Being with Dying and Standing at the Edge
 
“A fascinating book. I think Issan’s story contributes significantly to the history of the gay community and its response to AIDS, as well as to the history of Buddhism in America.”—Randy M. Shilts, author of And the Band Played On and Conduct Unbecoming
 
“Well-researched, cleanly written . . . It details an amazing man and adds to our knowledge of gay history, Buddhist history, and AIDS activist history. . . . [O]verall, Street Zen is a wonderful tribute to a unique and heroic individual.”—Lambda Book Report
 
“Schneider . . . presents an even-handed account of Dorsey’s extraor­dinary life and death . . . It gives a clear handling of the paradox that was Dorsey and the great compassion that he embodied.”—Library Journal
 
“A wonderful book I return to when I want to have my old room­mate and dharma pal Tommy Issan Dorsey back again to remind me to slow down and enjoy life. Thanks to David Schneider for this soulful biography.”—David Chadwick, author of Crooked Cu­cumber: The Life and Zen Teaching of Shunryu Suzuki
 
“A crisp, candid, and utterly engaging read . . . an excellent addition to the still early annals of American Buddhism.”—San Francisco Chronicle
 
“A biography of remarkable power and grace, it offers a striking model for the flourishing of Buddhism in America.”—Jeff Zaleski, editor-in-chief, Parabola
 
“Religious history rings with tales of converted libertines—Saul, St. Augustine, Thomas Merton among them. Now, thanks to this wonderfully uplifting biography by freelance journalist Schneider, to that list can be added Issan Dorsey—the thieving, doping, female-impersonating gay hooker who became abbot of one of the nation’s top Zen monasteries.”—Kirkus Reviews
 
“A fascinating account of the life and death of an extraordinary teacher who was also a pioneer in the ‘engaged Buddhism’ that seems bound to be the way of American Zen.”—Peter Matthiessen
 
“An inside look at Zen masters, their sublimity, scandals, and humanity, a tearful chronicle of home-grown American Buddhist heroism.”—Allen Ginsberg

About the Author

TENSHO DAVID SCHNEIDER began Zen practice in 1970 and was ordained as a Zen priest in 1977. He held the position of acharya (senior teacher) in the Shambhala International community from 1996 to 2019. He is coeditor with Kazuaki Tanahashi of Essential Zen, and author of Crowded by Beauty: The Life and Zen of Poet Philip Whalen. He lives in Cologne, Germany.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Shambhala; 3rd edition (June 9, 2020)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1611808472
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1611808476
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.45 x 0.74 x 8.45 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 60 ratings

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  1. David Schneider

    David Schneider

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  2. Koshin Paley Ellison

    Koshin Paley Ellison

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    Sensei Dr. Koshin Paley Ellison, MFA, LMSW, DMIN, is an author, Zen teacher, and Jungian psychotherapist. Koshin co-founded the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, serving through contemplative approaches to care through education, direct service, and Soto Zen practice. He has served as the co-director of Contemplative Care Services for the Department of Integrative Medicine and as the chaplaincy supervisor for the Pain and Palliative Care Department at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center, where he also served on the Medical Ethics Committee. He is currently on the faculty of the University of Arizona Medical School’s Weil Center for Integrative Medicine’s Integrative Medicine Fellowship, on Faculty of the Integrative Medicine Fellowship of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine, and he is a visiting professor at the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics at the University of Texas Health Science Center of Houston Medical School.

    Paley Ellison is a dynamic, original, and visionary leader and teacher. He is the author of Untangled: Walking the Eightfold Path to Clarity, Courage and Compassion (Balance/Hachette, 2022), Wholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up (Wisdom Publications, 2019) as well as the co-editor of Awake at the Bedside: Contemplative Teachings on Palliative and End of Life Care (Wisdom Publications, 2016). His work has been featured in the New York Times, PBS, Tricycle and others.

    His six years of training at the Jungian Psychoanalytic Association as well as clinical contemplative training at both Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center and New York Presbyterian Medical Center culminated in roles as an ACPE Certified Educator, chaplain, and Jungian psychotherapist. He began his formal Zen training in 1987, and he is a recognized Soto Zen Teacher by the American Zen Teachers Association, White Plum Asanga, and Soto Zen Buddhist Association. He serves on the Board of Directors at the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care and the Soto Zen Buddhist Association.

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
60 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Porchlight
5.0 out of 5 stars A deep sense of gratitude
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2005
Verified Purchase
I read the reviews of this book before purchasing it. As a queer writer in Spirituality and Religion I have a great deal of sensitivity about heterosexist bent towards gay characters and history. So, David Sunseri's review of the book sat perched on my shoulder as I read this book.

Having finished this book I have to say that I am left seriously questioning Sunseri's criticism of the book. It is a wonderful story and a tender account of a remarkable person. Having read this book and appreciating the care given to speak to the myriad parts of Issan Dorsey's (full) life story, I have to wonder if Sunseri isn't speaking from a place of internalized homophobia. Nowhere did I find the "sensationalizing" of homosexuality that Sunseri and Harper Leah (?) mention.

In fact, I am now left to believe that Sunseri and Leah would prefer a completely sex-free, queer-free reading of Dorsey's life.

If the book had sensational parts, that's because parts of Issan Dorsey's life were sensational and outrageous. That's not heterosexist bias dear ones. Heterosexist bias would be to "clean up" those stories and de-queer Dorsey. Fortunately Schneider doesn't suffer from any such prudery.

A closer reading of Sunseri's reviews show what is clearly a bitter bias towards anything involving the entire Soto Zen community. Sunseri states that quite vividly in his review of Robert Winson's "Dirty Laundry."

Fortunately, I don't suffer from that bias. I approached this book wanting to know more about this intriguing person, Issan Dorsey, who, by all accounts, wasn't afraid to embrace the totality of his life's existence and who has left a legacy of caring for others in need.

Do not miss this book if you're interested in a truly remarkable story of a Gay pioneer and spiritual elder. It is not the complete story. But it is one of the stories and it deserves to be read. Perhaps members of the Hartford Zen Center complaining about the lack of Issan's "teachings" in the book could get off their zazen pillows and publish them. I'm sure they have more access to it than anyone.
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Dave
5.0 out of 5 stars An incredible life, a remarkable man.
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2007
Verified Purchase
I read this book because I heard about a renowned Buddhist named IssanDorsey at a dharma talk. I'm gay myself, and hearing that Issan Dorsey was also a gay man made me interested in finding out about his life. So, I popped his name into a search engine, and ordered this book from amazon.
Up until recently, my relationship with religion in general has been a bad one. The tendency of Western religions to preach hate toward my kind has made it all but impossible for me to participate in any of them. Legislators on both sides of the political aisle have used religion as a vehicle for either passing laws to restrict my freedom or turn a blind eye to these efforts, for fear that any support for my community would render one 'unelectable'. None of this has made for a very good advertisement of religion for my community.
Buddhism struck me as being fundamentally different, and when I read this book, I realized just how different it was. Issan Dorsey was from my side of the tracks, and instead of preaching self-loathing to him, Buddhism taught him how he could make a major difference in the lives of those who needed him the most.
I'm pretty inspired to give this Buddhism thing a try now. I've never heard of a religion that doesn't judge people before. Maybe this is the one for me.
7 people found this helpful
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Bernard McGovern
5.0 out of 5 stars Tommy “Issan” Dorsey, an American Buddhist Icon
Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2019
Verified Purchase
Daniel Schindler’s book on the life and influence of Issan Tommy Dorsey is excellent. His life was colorful and tortured, and yet is a redemption story par excellence. Daniel Schindler’s writing is clear, fast, and presents a view of a life of a man living in the center of amazing times in San Francisco. from the gay culture, to drugs and psychedelics, and to the arrival and encampment of AIDS, to the inside story of the growth of the Buddhist community during a Tumultuous time.
Schindler knows his subject, but this is a bio pic instead of a full blown biography. That may have to await for another writer; however Schindler opened us up to an interesting, amazing person. Well done.
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Nance Di Nigeratti
5.0 out of 5 stars Zen in the new world!
Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2017
Verified Purchase
This is a most wonderful exploration of modern Buddhism through the prism of the life of Issan Tommy Dorsey. Sometimes the Zen tradition seems inaccessible to Westerns. This is a California story. This is a tale that could have taken place nowhere else. It is the extraordinary tale of the transformation of a child of the 60s counter-culture to a devotee of an age old tradition. Honest and not sanctimonious. I am fascinated by sainthood in any practice. I like the miracles of conversion and transcendence, but I don't like it when the pious never sweat. This is a real story of a fellow with all the flaws of humans rises to become a Abbot in an esteemed order. If you are at all interested in any of the things I've mentioned, give this work a try.
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Timothy J. Hollis
4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2001
This work is so important to both the Buddhist community and anyone who has any inkling of how to create community. Isaan Dorsey was an example of the best teachings of Jesus and the best promises of Buddha. Kudos to David Schneider, et. al, for their exhaustive work and beautful tapestry. -TJ, Santa Fe, NM, USA
5 people found this helpful
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Irma Bauer
5.0 out of 5 stars inspiration on the way
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2012
Verified Purchase
I read this book after reading a biography about Janis Joplin. The same time, maybe occasionally even the same places (Big Brother and the Holding company played at a concert raising funds for Shunryu Suzukis Tassajara-project). A similar background in a time, when people, societies, whole nations were on the move, being shaken, transformed, struggling for new outlooks or on the contrary trying to conserve a seemingly dead old world. Two lives in the same turbulent and exciting days, and yet how different. I was deeply touched by both books. But the one which stays with me and serves as one of the inspirations on the way to inner realisation is this biography of Issan Dorsey. To read it has been not only a deep confrontation with memories of my own past, but also a wonderful and inspiring testimony on what transformation on the path can cause in a gifted and persevering individual.
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