Dairyu Michael Wenger
In his podcast we learn that Michael got involved with a sitting group in Brooklyn while in college. He was also influenced by The Three Pillars of Zen and a series of talks on Be Here Now by Ram Dass, whom he got to meet. During a summer break from college in 1968 he visited San Francisco where he came to Zen Center and joined a sesshin led by Shunryu Suzuki. He remembers during his lectures Suzuki drank tea and he said, “When I drink this tea, I drink the whole universe.” After finishing college Michael returned to Zen Center in 1972, where he eventually became president. He was ordained and received dharma transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman. In 2011 he founded Dragons Leap Zen Center.
He has edited many Suzuki lectures and for years was head of the Zen Center's Study Center and archives. For years Michael was the person at Zen Center whom I related to in working on the Shunryu Suzuki lectures and archives. Ten years ago Michael oversaw the project to make archival reel-to-reel copies and archival cassette copies of the Suzuki lecture tapes with Mark Watts as engineer and Bill Redican as project manager. The next phase of that project was for Bill to create the verbatim transcripts of those tapes. Michael was on the committee of the Shunryu Suzuki Legacy Project in 2008 in which the archive was further organized, digitalized, and made more available to students and the public. See more below.
Michael said to me once that, in Suzuki Roshi's efforts to plant Zen in America, he seemed to Michael at times like someone shooting arrows into the distance, confident that some would hit the mark. - DC
Cuke Podcast with Michael and Barbara Wenger 🔊
The Dragon Leaps on February 29th, 2012
Dragon Leap Hermitage
10-18-14
- Yesterday linked to Dairyu Michael Wenger's site,
Dragons Leap. Today featuring
his book
49 Fingers, a collection of 49 American Koans, written in traditional case, commentary, verse format alongside 22 of his original brush works.
It is currently available at the San Francisco Zen Center's online bookstore. You can purchase it at their website by clicking here.
And posted in bibliography.
10-17-14 -
Dragons Leap - Check out
Michael Wenger's site for his teaching, art, news, suggestions, and his
San Francisco Avenues group.
2-27-12 -
This Wednesday, February 29th Dairyu Michael Wenger will give a lecture at
San Francisco Zen Center as part of the Leap Day celebration, at 7:30PM in
the Buddha Hall. Please join the Great Dragon mid-leap as he branches out
from San Francisco Zen Center to begin Dragons Leap Zendo, located at 2100
20th Avenue & Quintara.
On Sunday March 4th there will be a meeting to discuss future plans for Dragons Leap Zendo from 3-5 pm at CIIS, room 425, 1453 Mission st in San Francisco to bring everyone up to speed with what is going on.
Starting today, Dairyu's artwork will be on display at San Francisco Zen Center for the next two weeks, in the dining hall.
There will be a celebratory dinner at San Francisco Zen Center on Friday, March 9th.
2-18-12 - We've done it! We've found a home for Dragons Leap Meditation Center. 20th Avenue and Quintara. We will be moved in by March 1st and we expect to begin operating later in March or early April. It is just as we had envisioned it. A place for meditation, painting, and Dharma classes. Stay tuned for more information as it occurs. We will be starting a wishlist for what we need to operate. First things first: Zafus. If you or anyone you know has extras, please contact us.
After nearly 40 years, the dragon is moving We could use help preparing for the move Sunday afternoon, February 19th and 26th, from 1-5 PM at 370 Page street we will ready the launch site
Please call if you can help. Get number or email from - contact DC
This has been a long time coming, and I appreciate all of your help and support. We are just beginning, so let's keep going!
Michael Wenger
On Wednesday a group visited the SF home Michael and Barbara Wenger have found for a home and zendo. Hoitsu (son of Shunryu) and Chitose Suzuki and a few SFZC and BZC luminaries. Thanks to Clare Hollander for the lift.
Here are some photos of calligraphy created on the visit.
Clare Hollander took there. Click thumbnails to enlarge
Hoitsu Suzuki above was first
Michael Wenger, Mel Weitsman, and Steve Stucky's contributions drying
The Wenger's altar
Mel Weitsman brushes as Steve Stucky watches
See DC's attempt at calligraphy
8-29-11 - Michael Wenger making a dragon's leap out of the City Center. Location sought for his new residence and practice place. See SFZC article on this.
Wenger art
The Inklings of Michael Wenger
Wenger art on cuke with a brief tribute to Michael by DC
Books by Michael Wenger
Wenger, Michael. Thirty-three Fingers: a Collection of Modern American Koans. Clear Glass, 1994. [Small, fun, refreshing--by a priest in Suzuki's lineage, dean of the studies center at SFZC.] ---- excerpt from this book on cuke.com - excerpt on SFZC web site.
Branching Streams Flow in
the Darkness by Shunryu Suzuki
Mel Weitsman & Michael Wenger (Editors)
$22.50 Paperback - 197 pages (November 1999)University of California Press
ISBN: 0520219821
Click thumbnail of cover to enlarge.
cuke page for Branching Streams with more links
Wenger,
Michael & Erlich, Gretel (Editors)
Wind
Bell: Teachings from the San Francisco Zen Center - 1968-2001
(web link) North Atlantic
Books, 2001. [That
was an informative link on it, but here's
the Amazon.com link. A great collection of various articles,
including Suzuki lectures, from old Wind Bells.
Michael has edited many issues of the Wind Bell and has many contributions to the Wind Bell through the years.
Wind Bell (publication of the San Francisco Zen Center),
1961-.
[Bi-annual
publication of the SFZC. To subscribe or for back issues, write Zen
Center, 300 Page St., San Francisco CA 94102--$3 per issue; $6 a year
domestic; $10 a year foreign]
1999 letter of support from Michael Wenger for DC's Cucumber Project
1998 fundraising letter from Suzuki archiving sent by DC includes Wenger
A question from Wenger about the position of tenken
A notice for Michael's Zen film festival
another note about Michael's Zen film festival
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