I was reading John Tarrant’s excellent book on Zen Buddhism this morning in bed, luxuriously naked and wrapped in our down comforter, and sipping the latte that David had made for me (how good a start to the work day is that?).
Tarrant wrote about Tommy Dorsey, a performing drag queen in San Francisco in the 80’s who became Issan, a monk, and later the abbot of a Zen center in the Castro District, the heart of the lavish gay scene. ( Issan said, “I still wear a skirt, but I gave up the heels.”) With a heart as big as the city, and a fierce commitment to service, he cared for guys with AIDS while keeping his wild and passionate off-the wall spirit. Tarrant described Issan as a “feral monk.”
That’s it, I thought as I read that, the top of my head blowing off. That’s what I am.
