Issan Dorsey
Issan Dorsey | |
|---|---|
| Title | Zentatsu Richard Baker |
| Based in | Hartford Street Zen Center |
| Successor | Steven Allen |
Issan Dorsey (March 7, 1933 — September 6, 1990), born Tommy Dorsey Jr., was a
AIDS
in 1990.
He established the Maitri Hospice at HSZC for students and friends dying of AIDS during the spread of the epidemic in the 1980s—the first
Buddhist hospice of its kind in the United States. Numbers of his students and colleagues have observed that Dorsey was the embodiment of a bodhisattva.[1]
Biography
Issan Dorsey was born as Tommy Dorsey Jr. in
prostitute at shows and afterhours, developing a nasty methamphetamine addiction during this period.[2] On the road during his shows Dorsey was introduced as, "Tommy Dee, the boy who looks like the girl next door."[1]
In the 1960s, he returned to
AIDS.[5]
See also
- Buddhism in the United States
- Buddhism and sexual orientation
- Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States
References
- ^ a b c Whitney, Kobai Scott (March 1998). "The Lone Mountain Path: The Example of Issan Dorsey". Shambhala Sun. Archived from the original on 2007-08-07. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
- ^ OCLC 35178597.
- ^ Butler, Katy (Spring 1994). Street Zen (book review). Whole Earth Review.
- OCLC 48932003.
- ^ a b History of HSZC
- OCLC 46867277.
Further reading
Schneider, David (2000). Street Zen: The Life and Work of Issan Dorsey. Marlowe & Company. OCLC 43390506.