Frank Simmons

Frank Simmons is an old friend of mine from Fort Worth, Texas, who came out to California to visit and got the Zen bug. He practiced at the SFZC for some time and sat with Ray Olson in a little sitting group in Fort Worth. He has been taking care of a meditation center in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico for over twenty years. He calls himself the maintenance man. Check it out at meditationsma.org. Here's their new Facebook page: Meditation Center of San Miguel. - dc

Frank sez: I met David Chadwick in high school in Fort Worth, Texas. We got to be good friends through our mutual best friend Ward after graduation. We shared a grand adventure driving from NYC to Mexico City to Acapulco and back to Texas. That trip changed my life. I opened up to a new way of being. David introduced me to Zen practice and Zen Center and Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, and I have been a follower ever since. I brought my practice to San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico, when I moved here in 1996. I started sitting with a group that began in 1995, and eventually became the maintenance man, moving to a very comfortable cave-like house behind the meditation room, a converted garage, in 2014, fulfilling a long-term daydream of having a little center in Mexico. Mary Quagliata, who was a student of Suzuki Roshi, joined the meditation group shortly after I did, and has been a staunch practitioner for all these years. We welcome all who want to sit in silence with others. Check us out at meditationsma.org.

The Meditation Center of San Miguel

Frank with his Beginner's Mind calligraphy

Frank and Mary 2023

Frank and Dogie (RIP 2017)--together from the sixties

Below: Frank in the sixties