In celebration of Roshi turning 100 a book is being made about him.
As part of the book all the Oshos have been asked to write a few
words in response to these questions, here is my response.

Osho Questions

1 – What first drew you to Zen practice?

From very early on, my ambitions had always been of an artistic, spiritual nature. For me the act of pure seeing, has always been a way to experience something deeper then the thinking, jabber, jabber I am proclaiming self, which seems to so easily rule many people's lives. From this practice, the notion of just sitting, purely experiencing reality as it is, with the guidance of a legitimate spiritual teacher to boot was very appealing to me.

2- How and when did your training with Joshu Roshi begin?

My very first impression of Zen practice came from being served a hot cup of tea, in a cold Zendo on a dark night in the middle of nowhere. Then after sleeping a few hours without speaking or hearing a word, returning for a cup of hot tea, in a cold Zendo on a dark night in the middle of nowhere. This first impression just felt very profoundly correct to me, it was in 1988 at Bodhi Manda Zen Center.

A few days later I was in Rohatsu Dai-Sesshin. It was basically my first time doing Zazen. It was the last Rohatsu with a 2:00 am wake- up and a 5th Sanzen, Sosan, everyday. Leonard Cohen told me before sesshin that it would be the hardest and best thing I had ever done in my whole life and he was right on both counts.

3 - Had you previously studied with other dharma teachers?

I had read a few books, but that was it.

4 - Please share any poignant moments with Roshi that you are comfortable sharing.

One day when I was Shika at Mt. Baldy, as is the custom I went to his cabin 10 minutes before Sanzen with some sort of business question that seemed quite important to me at the time. He was eating a grapefruit. He ate that grapefruit so completely, so ferociously, carefully placing the skin together to form a cup on the table, that I was dumbstruck and forgot all about what I wanted to ask him.

5 – Looking back at your training with Roshi, can you share some teachings that have been precious to you, and how do you experience these teachings in your everyday life.

Having Roshi as a spiritual teacher is incomparable, there is no way to explain it for me, because there is nothing like it. It is a different kind of love then the love one has for one's lover, one's children, or one's parents. The scholastic side to his teaching has a clarity and depth which cannot be found anywhere else. Complementing this, the practice which he teaches is utterly grounded in the dharma, in reality unreachable through thought. One moment with one's entire body, completely engage in whatever activity is at hand, then the next moment return to the thinking, human self realizing from the experience of the previous moment that this whole world and everything in it is a reflection of oneself. This is what I try to practice everyday.

6 – Describe how your center started, including some of the trials and good fortunes.

I came to New York City in 2002 to be with my wife to be Maureen Ellenhorn. Hearing the chanting and seeing the black robes a neighbor asked what kind of satanic rituals we were doing in there. The many misconceptions and cliche ideas about what Zen is can make it almost impossible to practice. However every time that I have been invited to give a talk to people interested in Buddhism, they have always responded quite readily to what I was saying and this has been encouraging. I am happy whenever someone expresses a genuine interest in Zen, comes to practice, or offers some form of support.

-Tokuju Genshu, Osho of the Williamsburg Zen Center