Over the years, I came to see Bernie’s imperfections as his greatest gift. It was through accepting, coming to terms with, appreciating his imperfections that I was able to make some peace with my own. Where would I have been, where would I be now, if Bernie had been “perfect”? It wasn’t that Bernie was always acknowledging his imperfections, not really. But he wasn’t hiding them. That was gift enough. I could see them – maybe most of his students saw them – and they were par

When Jishu said, “There are no perfect teachers outside, I have a perfect teacher inside,” I was very happy for her. I felt that she was signaling the shift that had taken place in her relationship to Bernie as her teacher. She was telling me that Bernie wasn’t the perfect teacher. Intellectually, I understood Jishu’s point. I thought what she was saying was brilliant. I quoted Jishu and continued to quote her all these years since her passing.   But her point was lost on me.

What a gift, to be able to share some of what I’ve been given in my life with others. The Zen Peacemakers have been giving me a chance to share some of the gifts from my teachers. Next up, the Zen Precepts.   The Precepts, the Buddhist guides to ethical conduct, could easily have scared me off. I came to precepts with the Ten Commandments in my head. Although the Commandments were not part of my atheist family culture, they were there in the mid-20th century American air of m