- Issan Dorsey
Infobox Buddhist biography
name = Issan Dorsey
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birth_name = Tommy Dorsey, Jr.
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birth_date = 1933
birth_place =Santa Barbara, California
death_date =September 6 1990
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nationality =
denomination =
school =Soto
lineage =
title =Roshi
workplace =Hartford Street Zen Center
education =
occupation =
teacher =Shunryu Suzuki Zentatsu Richard Baker
reincarnation_of =
predecessor =
successor = Steven Allen
student =
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partner =
children =
website =Issan Dorsey (1933—
September 6 1990 ), born Tommy Dorsey, Jr., was agay Soto roshi and ex-prostitute/drag queen /drug addict who died ofAIDS complications in 1990. Dorsey was the former abbot ofHartford Street Zen Center (HSZC) located in theCastro district ofSan Francisco, California . He is most remembered for establishing the Maitri Hospice at HSZC for students and friends dying of AIDS during the spread of the epidemic in the 1980s—the firstBuddhist hospice of its kind in theUnited States . Many of his former students and biographers have observed that Dorsey was the embodiment of abodhisattva .Whitney]Biography
Issan Dorsey was born as Tommy Dorsey, Jr. in
Santa Barbara, California in 1933.Comstock, 251—252] He was raised as aCatholic and was the youngest child of ten siblings. As a boy he aspired to become an entertainer and studieddance andpiano . While injunior college he became dissatisfied with his life, so he left school and joined theU.S. Navy . In the military he was able to fulfill his childhood dream of being an entertainer, putting on shows at his base and ontelevision shows. During theKorean War Dorsey and a male lover were expelled from the Navy, leaving him to spend several years in and out of employment. He finally settled into a job as awaiter for a bar in North Beach, eventually becoming a performer there as adrag queen . His shows were a success and he traveled in aroad show known as The Party of Four. On the road in the 1950s he would sometimes work as aprostitute at shows and afterhours, developing a nastymethamphetamine addiction during this period. On the road during his shows Dorsey was introduced as, "Tommy Dee, the boy who looks like the girl next door."In the 1960s he returned to
San Francisco , where he continued to shoot speed and engaged in dealing drugs on lowerHaight Street . He founded his own commune and also managed arock band . During this period he had a spiritual experience under the influence ofLSD while observing a photograph of RomonaMaharshi . He constructed analtar with Maharshi's photograph, where he would shoot speed and gaze at the picture for several hours. Soon, he gave up using drugs and started sittingzazen at theSan Francisco Zen Center (SFZC) under the guidance ofShunryu Suzuki .Butler, Katy] In 1980 (while Dorsey was director of SFZC) he became a member of The Gay Buddhist Club, which eventually became known as theHartford Street Zen Center (HSZC).Coleman, 165] Originally a discussion group forgay Buddhists, the group eventually began sittingzazen in the basement of one member's house at 57 Hartford Street. In 1987 [http://www.hszc.org/December2006newsletter.html] Dorsey had created ahospice (Maitri Hospice) within the Zen center on Hartford Street, serving primarily gay men who were dying ofAIDS . Eventually Dorsey was made aSoto priest by his teacher—Zentatsu Richard Baker —installed as abbot of HSZC in 1989 and given theDharma name Issan (meaning "One-Mountain").Shortly before death, in particularly poor health, Issan was recognized as aroshi . [Halifax, Joan] On September 6, 1990, Issan Dorsey died of complications linked toAIDS . [http://www.hszc.org/December2006newsletter.html]ee also
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Buddhism in the United States
*Homosexuality and Buddhism
*Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States Notes
References
*cite book| last =Butler| first =Katy| authorlink =| coauthors =| title =Street Zen (book review)| publisher =Whole Earth Review| date =Spring 1994| location =| pages =| url =http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1510/is_n82/ai_15297800| doi =| id = | isbn =
*cite book| last =Coleman| first =James William| authorlink =| coauthors =| title =The New Buddhism: The Western Transformation of an Ancient Tradition| publisher =Oxford University Press| date =2001| location =| pages =| url =http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/48932003&referer=one_hit| doi =| id = | isbn = 0195152417
*cite book| last =Comstock| first =Gary| authorlink =| coauthors =Susan E. Henking| title =Que(e)Rying Religion: A Critical Anthology| publisher =Continuum International Publishing Group| date =1997| location =| pages =| url =http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/35178597&referer=brief_results| doi =| id = | isbn = 0826409245
*cite book| last =Halifax, Joan| first =| authorlink =Joan Halifax| coauthors =| title =Buddhism in America: Volume 1 (Audio)| publisher =Sounds True| date =2000| location =| pages =| url =http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/46867277&referer=one_hit| doi =| id = | isbn = 1564558169
*cite web| last =Whitney| first =Kobai Scott| authorlink =| coauthors =| title =The Lone Mountain Path: The Example of Issan Dorsey| work =| publisher =Shambhala Sun| date =March 1998| url =http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1980| format =| doi =| accessdate = 2008-03-02Further reading
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