Hometown:
Orange County, California
What was I doing before DRBU?
Working a high-stressed, demanding job in corporate America for many years.
No, I have no cynicism about working in the corporate environment that is moving at a breakneck pace. I am actually very grateful for it. I look back and see how immature, self-centered, and greedy I was at the beginning of my career. The challenges I faced at work—be it with people or with the work itself—really helped me to learn how to be in harmony with others. Given my sense of delusion of my own grandeur, the corporate environment has been a great place for me to come to terms with myself.
Influential class I’ve taken:
Hermeneutics of Self.
There were so many moments that I thought my mind was blown open and I’m in this empty space of uncertainty and doubt. Initially, it was a bit scary. I spent my whole life trying to figure out “what is going on.” The discussions with my classmates were really insightful. They helped me to reduce my attachment to self and my attachment to Dharma. That empty space is starting to feel spacious, the feeling of uncertainty and discomfort is starting to feel like a refuge. I guess that’s not a bad place to be.
What do you do for fun?
Everything is fun! Looking at the 1,000+ crows “commuting” every day outside my house. Be there to talk to anyone who wants someone to talk to. Cook and recreate favorite foods (in Buddhist vegetarian format) of myself and others at home. Take an afternoon nap. Improve on ways to live my daily life with the limited range of my frozen shoulders.
How does what you’re learning here carry out into the world?
Just focus on cultivation and being there for others is enough. I have seen how others around me changed, according to their own causes and conditions, when they saw how CTTB and Buddhism made such a big impact on my life.
What’s next?
Honestly, I don’t know. And this gives me a sense of relief. After working continuously for over 25 years, I want to just be able to listen to myself and to others deeply, at every single moment, and be there to serve. That would be enough.
