Doug Greiner
RIP Doug Greiner
Doug Greiner was a student of Shunryu Suzuki who came to Sokoji in the early sixties. He worked in the Nuclear Science Division of the Lawrence Livermore Lab. See his obit there. He was quite close with Mel Weitsman who we see him on the right with Mel in this photo. (Thanks for photo Liz.)
Liz Horowitz wrote:
Doug died at home in early February of kidney cancer. I went for a walk with him a month or two before that, and his condition was stable then. I was shocked that he declined so fast after that. I’ll forward you an email I sent to the Berkeley sangha after he died.
One of the things I loved about Doug Greiner was that besides being a Zen student for many decades, he was a nuclear physicist at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab. Doug was also a devoted family man. And he loved the eastern Sierra and Mono Lake area. I have fond memories of going on some wonderful hikes with him there.
Mel and Doug were great friends, and they used to go for a walk every Tuesday morning after zazen. For many years they went hiking up in the hills, and then as they both aged they did their walks down by the bay, and continued right up until not long before Mel died.
Doug was such a dear friend. I miss him and his lighthearted spirit.
Here are a couple photos. One shows Doug as physicist, the other as Zen student.
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Doug helped build the BZC (Berkeley Zen Center) zendo, and here’s a remembrance Ross Blum wrote about Doug:
Doug arrived at Sokoji in 1962, two years before Sojun. Unlike many of Suzuki Roshi’s early students, Doug wasn’t living the beatnik/hippie life but commuted to work after morning zazen to help raise a family while others hung out with Suzuki Roshi. His devotion to practice was clear and in 1971 he received the precepts from Suzuki Roshi along with others in the first Lay Ordination at Zen Center. His Dharma name was Tsuzan Gensho Intimate Mountain Profound Nature. [It was the 3rd lay ordination - 62, 70, 71. We know he was 71 because he had a black rakusu. Those in 70 were blue. - dc]
He was a model lay student attending to his family and attending to his temple in such a humble, selfless manner. I recall working under the Zendo covering the heating pipes with insulation. He instructed me to do it carefully [as if people would see it] despite nobody would given its location. I remember his WSM talk where he said he arrived at Sokoji in ‘62(!) and was raising a family so couldn’t stay after zazen because he had to go to work while others most likely hung out chatting over coffee etc. I gathered Mel really liked him given their weekly walks and Doug’s kind, humble, and devoted manner. I don’t remember what he said at Mel’s GG funeral but it was great to see him after all those years.
Andrea Thach wrote:
Doug was the BZC shuso in 2002. Mel invited him back since there was no one ready at BZC at the time. Most of us didn't know him. He had stopped coming around once his family was growing. He'd retired by 2002. The first time I was in the zendo with him, I noticed him sitting there in the corner by the densho. It wasn't that he had great posture, he was just so at ease and light, calm and settled that he changed the whole atmosphere in the zendo. His shuso talk topic was Uji (Being Time by Dogen). What else do you give an internationally known physicist? He rocked it.
Anyway. Doug became a good friend. He walked with Mel for many years up in Strawberry Canyon. I'd tag along when I could. He was the closet thing Mel had to a friend. Friend much more than student.
Doug told me on a couple of occasionals that he started with Suzuki Roshi at least 2-3 years before Mel. He was, I think, a grad student at Cal, or earl y in his post doc life and was driving back and forth to Sokoji for morning Zazen which started at 5:00 sitting , and then driving back to go to Cal/LBL (Lawrence Livermore Lab). Amazing that Penny put up with it. Then, the children really started to arrive (Maybe Leo was already born when he started. He had to give up the commute around the time that Suzuki Roshi asked Mel to find a place to sit (66).
Note: Andrea says she remembers Doug saying he first came in 59 but she also wrote he said he came two or three years before Mel which would put it at 62 which is in line with other sources. There was one morning zazen in the early days that started at 5:45am. Around 65 or so a 5am zazen was added.
From the BZC List Serve:
Ryushin wrote : I just received word that our dear friend, Sojun's dear old friend, Doug Greiner died on February 4th after about a year of living with renal cell cancer.
Doug walked with Sojun in the Tilden Hills for years, "to help keep him going," Doug said. Some of us had the great fortune to do the same with and for Doug. I will miss him very much.
Greg Fain wrote:
Oh this is so sad, what a great presence he was. I feel so blessed that I was included in some of those walks with Mel in the hills.
He had another rakusu which was black, I asked him, “I didn’t know you were a priest?” He said, “I’m not, that’s just how Suzuki Roshi had us make them.” Yes it had Suzuki Roshi’s calligraphy on the back. He also once told me, “I remember when Reb first showed up at Sokoji in that hearse he drove from Minnesota.” [1968]
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A letter from Doug Greiner to Mel Weitsman concerning Shunryu Suzuki's radiation belt.
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