Tricycle | Awake in the World

Philip Whalen
Poet
Abbott, Hartford Street Zen Cente
San Francisco, California

I was talking intensely with Chogyam Trungpa. He told me, “Your true temple is in the high country, in Nepal,” in a particular valley. I don’t remember where it was, exactly, but someday I just might go there.

Michael Sierchio
Computer Consultant
Berkeley, California

I was visiting Deh Chun (Ta-Tsung) in his house in Monteagle. We drank hot green tea out of jelly jars, and he looked quite warm in his quilted cotton coat. He said that I should tend to a pot on the stove, something he was cooking, and he left the room. I kept stirring the pot until Deh Chun came back into the room. He was wearing golden robes. He was no longer thin and frail, but vigorous and commanding, like a great general. Again he said to me: “Keep stirring the pot!” I felt a tremendous sense of awe and well-being. I knew that the old man had shown himself to me for the first time.