Original Face - by Richard Bryan McDaniel (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Meet the individuals responsible for establishing Zen as a practice in North America.

Between 2013 and 2025, Rick McDaniel conducted nearly 300 interviews with accredited Zen teachers and longtime practitioners in North America, several of whom (Bernie Glassman, Hozan Senauki, Mel Weitsman) have since died. What he was originally interested in was the scope of practices which self-identify as "Zen" on this side of the Pacific, but what he later realized was that he was gathering amounts to an oral history of Zen in North America. Original Face focuses on the pioneers who established Zen in North America as a practice--rather than a literary tradition--in the 1960s and '70s, based on first person accounts of people who studied with the pioneers.

Review Quotes

"Rick McDaniel, and the voices of many others he has assembled here, masterfully upholds an important dharma legacy: the story of the Zen pioneers who arrived in North America in the twentieth century as told by those who knew them. These are tales of great virtues and painful failings. And the uncommon commonality of the old teachers: they all prioritized the fundamental truth of buddhadharma. This point, sadly, is now often ignored by the very Zen lineage streams they founded. By returning to the Original Face, this book just might help catalyze a much-needed course correction in contemporary Zen." --Dosho Port, Vine of Obstacles Zen; author of Going Through the Mystery's One Hundred Questions

"Zen tradition makes it easy to forget that much of it is purely fiction. Encounters that fill the pages of the Gate of No Barrier and the Blue Cliff Record were in fact almost entirely made up: if Zhaozhou really put his sandal on his head, no one except Nanchuan was there to witness the event. And so, writers like Wumen and Yuanwu weren't just faithful recorders. They were master storytellers who could imbue the most ordinary events with the power of cosmic myths. Original Face offers something new that greatly enriches the tradition: candid conversations with teachers engaged in the challenging and joyful work of bringing the dharma to the West. The conversations recorded here remind us how the dharma really gets passed on: not just mind to mind but heart to heart." --Kurt Spellmeyer, Zen roshi

"I commend Original Face to anyone who cares about Zen, the Buddhadharma come west, and how ancient ways of the human heart took root in a new land." --James Ishmael Ford (from the Foreword), author of The Intimate Way of Zen

"Original Face: North American Zen Pioneers is an insightful and informative book, rooted in both a clear sense of history and in ongoing Zen practice-realization. Speaking to and from the heart of the matter, and pulling no punches, it is not always easy reading. Mistakes and personal flaws are not papered over. Rick McDaniel had the rare opportunity to travel the country and interview close students and heirs of the first-generation teachers who brought Zen into the West and helped establish its formal practice here. Having personally worked with two of those teachers, I know McDaniel got the details right. Through his careful work we can now sit face-to-face with foundational teachers to whom Western Zen continues to owe so much. I'm deeply grateful." --Rafe Jnan Martin, founding teacher, Endless Path Zendo; author of Finding Your Buddha Smile

"Richard McDaniel's Original Face: North American Zen Pioneers, focuses on most of the Zen teachers who transplanted and established Zen Buddhist practice in North America, and in Europe, as well. I find the book to be well-informed, engagingly written, and utterly fascinating." --Stephen Slottow, associate professor of music, University of North Texas; author of The Americanization of Zen Chanting

"Rick McDaniel has done a great service to Western Zen practitioners. Original Face fills in gaps and updates other wonderful books, like James Ishamel Ford's Zen Master Who? and older books like How the Swans Came to the Lake. Beautifully written and full of Dharma and history, it will benefit anyone who wants to know more about our more recent Zen ancestors. Many bows to Rick for this gift!" --Melissa Myōzen Blacker, Rōshi, guiding teacher and abbot, Boundless Way Zen Temple

"Relying largely on the eyewitness recollections of those who knew and studied with the first generation of teachers who helped to establish the practices and spiritual path of Zen Buddhism in the West, Rick McDaniel provides us with a compelling, wide-ranging, scrupulously researched and intimate history that reveals their personalities, practices, struggles, commitments, strengths, errors, and occasional harmful behaviors as Zen landed and took root on North American soil these last one hundred years. The author's beautifully written narrative and insightful intelligence is matched by his dedication to a faithful telling of these Zen pioneers and the circumstances they both faced and created, weaving together from many disparate strands a vivid and reliable insider account that is as clarifying and informative as any reader could want. I recommend it to all." --Peter Levitt, founder Salt Spring Zen Circle, author of Lamp to Lamp: 1,500 Years of Chan Buddhist Poetry and The Essential Dogen

"These thoughtful explorations tell us why you might immerse yourself in the Way and what you might discover if you do. There is no other record like this." --John Tarrant, author of The Story of the Buddha, and Bring Me The Rhinoceros: And Other Zen Koans that Will Save Your Life

"Here we see how an Asian banyan tree, transplanted in the West, has spread out in its multiple trunks and vines, determined to deepen its roots in our land. A remarkable work." --Bodhin Kjolhede, spiritual director emeritus, Rochester Zen Center

About the Author

Rick McDaniel was raised in Indiana and moved to Canada in 1967, where he earned a masters and PhD. He taught at the University of New Brunswick and Saint Thomas University for twelve years before beginning a career in International Development and Fair Trade. He became interested in Zen practice in 1971 and studied with Albert Low of the Montreal Zen Center. He's the author of eight books on the subject beginning with Zen Masters of China: The First Step East, and most recently, Further Zen Conversations. He lives in New Brunswick, Canada.