1999 - Eugene Lim

A Sacred Non-sacred Space

I first came to the Zen Center in the summer of 1999 or 2000. Matt Keeler and Socrates Aguayo were the residents at the time. My first intro night, a Sunday, was led by Matt Keeler and Elizabeth DiSalvo. I know it was summer, because the AC was running and Elizabeth noted hearing its hum during her sitting instructions. A year or so later, I remember Ken leading a kido chant after 9/11. In the aughts I sat many times with Alyson Arnold, MK Babcock, Colin Beavan, Irem Calikusu, Chris Cheney, Myung Jin Chung, Steve Cohen, Alan Davies, Willie Echanique, Matt Egan, Clare Ellis, Barry Ford, Nick Gershberg, Glenn Godin, James Goujin-Stook, John Holland, Richard Kahn, Ikkyu Kim, Yozmit Kwon, Larry Lee, Soo Kyoung Lee, Sooyoung Lee, Paul Majchrzyk, Jan Potemkin, Michael O'Sullivan, Trish O'Sullivan, Jae Park, Josh Race, John Schneider, David Spiher, Claudia Vieira and others. I remember nervously driving ZMWK's car (was it a minivan?) and the Zen Master putting on Thelonious Monk. This was on the drive back from a retreat in Oneonta where we'd sat watching brilliant, shifting light on the floor of a Unitarian Universalist church. I remember during retreats eating Michael O'Sullivan's distractingly delicious stews. I was a resident for a little less than a year, and it remains one of the great, formative experiences of my life, and I remember, near the end of that time, chanting the morning bell chant alone in the dharma room, weeping with gratitude that I'd been able to experience it. I remember John Holland's deliberate bows, Chris Cheney's chanting voice, Paul Majchrzyk's moktak rolls, and how Steve Cohen turned corners during walking meditation. After becoming a parent I had to come less often, but I miss the Zen Center, and I'm forever grateful for this sangha and those that maintain this sacred non-sacred space.

(Eugene Lim recently was awarded the The John Dos Passos Prize for Literature.)