From Salvation
In the 1976 Antioch Portfolio I wrote about Issan (then Tommy) in the Altered States of Consciousness section. In the list of trips it was #21.
Splitting a tab with Tommy D. (1968)
P/R: I spent most of 1968 with a band called Salvation, from San Francisco, but down in Los Angeles making their second album. The cook, named Tommy D., is now a monk at Tassajara Zen Center. Tommy and I split a tab of purple acid and spent the day working in the garden. The experience of the afternoon train coming through our backyard left another indelible impression of throbbing power.
S/K: The police raided us in the evening but could find no crimes committed. The neighbor complained his sheep were missing, and Tommy, the gentlest and I thought the purest person there, was somehow taken to jail. I felt I learned that it is the most vulnerable person who takes the brunt of the karma in a situation.
Tommy was a special friend in a crazy situation. I loved listening to his stories in the kitchen, while he worked preparing food.
Twenty years later, in 1988, when I was graduating as the Head Trainee at Zen Center of Los Angeles, my honored guest was the same Tommy, now Issan Dorsey, abbot of the Hartford Street Zen Center in San Francisco. He was absolutely radiant the whole weekend of my Shuso Hossen.
Issan on the right, holding microphone, at my Shuso Hossen.
There was an environmental lawyer living at the Zen Center named James Thornton, who had been practicing at Hartford Street. I told James about my adventures with Tommy, and asked him to invite my old friend to the upcoming big event. To my surprise he accepted the invitation. Many people fell under the spell of this extraordinary human being that weekend.
Issan and I talking in the backyard after the ceremony
