Symposium

I'm attending a two-day symposium at SF Zen Center and at UC Berkeley entitled "Zen Practice at Fifty." This morning's session was devoted to Suzuki-roshi's appearance in America 50 years ago--why he came here and how he established the first successful zen community in the U.S.
Since nobody really knows why he came here, the discussion eventually wound down with a number of old-timers sharing their personal recollections of Roshi.
How much more clever were the early Tang Chinese masters, who converted the question why Bodhidharma came from the West into the world's first and finest koan.
For the record: I too had a relationship with Suzuki-roshi, but I will never say a single word.
In the evening a pleasant reception for entering and returning graduate students at SF State History Department. Mirabile dictu, I actually met someone who's interested in early German medieval history.