Edward said that after decades of trying various kinds of therapy and techniques, that Jack finally got through to him. Edward has suffered greatly all his life from the tragedy of his mother's death when he was a toddler, being put in an orphanage with his brother, and then being separated from his brother. His father got remarried and took the boys back after a year or two, but the boys continued to have to deal with the trauma of such extended separation from both parents and each other. I can attest to the extreme extent of Edward's suffering. I was with Edward at Tassajara from the first and some years had a seat next to him. For years he shook when he sat, sometimes to the point of thrashing about violently. Tatsugami Roshi had him sit outside the zendo - I think I remember that or at least Tatsugami saying that he had to do so if he was going to be such a disturbance and I remember Ed not liking that at all. Kobun Chino once said to me, "In the 800 year history of Eiheiji monastery, no monk has suffered more than Ed Brown." Edward humbly says he's tried all sorts of programs and methods and teachers but he says that no matter what he tried he could not get over this anguish and no one really got to him until over the phone Jack led him to realize that he had a choice. Edward said Jack pretty much cornered him saying something like, is this the trance you really want to choose to be in? "He was right," Edward told me. "I found true magic."

what's new this year

There's a lot of old material that's as good as new if you haven't read it. -DC