From Stage 4 – Late Adolescence – The Wanderer in the Cocoon and Bill Welch

Between the Farm and the Zen Center I decided that whatever I did next I would stay with it. And stay with it I did, for 28 years.

I felt like for the last six or seven years I had a pattern: when things got rough after about a year I would move to a new town: Palo Alto, San Francisco, Simi Valley, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and the Farm. I wanted to choose my next destination wisely because when things inevitably got rough after about a year I was committed to hang in this time, to break the pattern, and work through whatever barrier came up without moving and trying to start over yet again. I was tired of avoiding the hard growth into depth and maturity.

When I first left the Farm my idea was to study with Suzuki Roshi at San Francisco Zen Center. (I later realized that the day I left the Farm was the day he died, December 4, 1971). As I bounced around the Bay Area I stayed briefly at Big River Farm, in the hills behind Mendocino. There Bob Walter strongly recommended I seek out Maezumi Roshi and the Zen Center of Los Angeles. I think Bob was the magical ally  who pointed the way off the road at the end of my wanderings.

The links below mark the transition from the end of my counterculture plunge (The Wanderer in the Cocoon) to the beginning of my 28 year tenure at the Zen Center (The Apprentice at the Wellspring).

Leaving The Farm

Try San Francisco

Try Palo Alto

Big River Farm

Pall Alto Hills Commune