A Zen Buddhist Priest, A Musician and A Beekeeper……..Yes All in One Man!!

Tell me about yourself?

I was born in Augusta, GA, in 1962. I have spent most of my life in Georgia and North Florida (which is pretty much Georgia). I studied Biology, Toxicology, and Public Health formally. I also studied music, Zen Buddhism, and martial arts (Judo, Aikido, Hapkido, and Ju-Jitsu) less formally.

Tell me how and why you converted to Buddhism?

To be honest, I always had it in me, but it took time to immerse myself in Buddhism. I think my “gateway drug” was the Beat Writers that I so dearly loved as a teenager. In those books, Zen, meditation, and Buddhism were mentioned a lot. In my 20s, I became obsessed with the philosophies of George Gurdjieff. One of his tenets was that you had to be working in a school and I found that school in the martial arts. I met the Abbott of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center at a Judo tournament and decided to meet him at a later date. I’ve been there ever since.

I was born into Judaism, but I found my home in Buddhism.

The things that I wanted to know, and experience just weren’t coming from Judaism. Zen was an open road in those directions.

You are also a beekeeper; how did you get into that? And why is it important to you and our earth?