An Intimate Picture of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

After experiencing a spontaneous transcendent mystical experience, Tim Burkett sought spiritual instruction in Buddhist meditation. This was in 1964 before meditation was even on the American radar and there were hardly any Buddhist teachers on the scene.

Looking in a San Francisco phone book he found a listing for a Zen Center. He says, “I went up to the door and knocked on it and this little Japanese man opened it and introduced himself as Reverend Suzuki. I went up to his office, told him...