My American Zen Life

by Gerry Shishin Wick

“My American Zen Life” describes the intimate spiritual journey of Gerry Shishin Wick from an ordinary alienated kid to one of America’s premier Zen masters. Wick encountered Zen in Berkeley in the 1960s, a few years later became a student of Sochu Suzuki Roshi in London and then spent 23 years as a disciple of Taizan Maezumi Roshi at the Zen Center of Los Angeles where he became an independent Zen teacher. Wick’s Zen memoir is an important history of the coming of Zen to America. His life intertwined with the lives of many seminal figures in American Zen including Bernie Glassman, Joko Beck, John Daido Loori, Robert Aitken, Shunryu Suzuki, Eido Shimano, Genpo Merzel, Chozen Bays and others. Wick’s Zen teachings are interspersed within his historical narrative, making “My American Zen Life” a treasure chest of wisdom for daily living.