Tassajara Stories

A Sort of Memoir/Oral History of the First Zen Buddhist Monastery in the West—The First Year, 1967

David Chadwick

Hardcover
9781958972892
US $32.99
eBook and Audiobook available
September 2025

From the award-winning and best-selling author of the biography of Shunryu Suzuki (Crooked Cucumber), comes a memoir and oral history of Tassajara—a monastery founded by the San Franciscan Zen Center in 1967. Peopled like a Sixties film of Buddhism invasion, with hippies, dreamers, lovers, and the first serious practitioners in the US. Nyogen Senzaki, D.T. Suzuki, Alan Watts, Gary Snyder, Allen Ginsberg, and of course Shunryu Suzuki and Richard Baker are all here. This is the story of what happened at the founding of the first Zen monastery in the West.

David Chadwick is a writer living in the Bay Area of California. In 1966, at the age of 21, he first rang the bell of Sokoji, a Soto Zen temple and the original home of the San Francisco Zen Center. Thus began his serious study under Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. Ordained a Zen priest in 1971, he later wrote Suzuki's biography, Crooked Cucumber, as well as Thank You and OK!: An American Zen Failure in Japan. Chadwick is the primary preserver of the legacy of Shunryu Suzuki and those whose paths crossed his. See cuke.com and shunryusuzuki.com for more information. He lives in San Rafael, CA.

“I have great respect for David Chadwick. He is one of the pioneers spreading dharma in the West. All my students study his books. I know all readers will love this book and these stories.” —Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones

“Two in three Americans today say they are ‘spiritual,’ while one in four identifies as ‘spiritual but not religious.’ For full immersion in one of the deepest well-springs of this widespread cultural revolution, dive into these stories of free spirits and seekers creating a uniquely western monastic community rooted in centuries of Zen Buddhist practice and led by a teacher true to the moment. No one tells it better than David Chadwick, with a firsthand feel for the high adventure and deep play of mind-changing history embodied in the making.” —Steven M. Tipton, author of In and Out of Church: The Moral Arc of Spiritual Change in America

“For those who care about the genesis of Tassajara and Zen in America, this is a fun read. David serves up a rich well of details and memories and a window into a very creative time.” —Jack Kornfield, author of A Path With Heart

“This book is as priceless as discovering a previously unknown time capsule. David Chadwick, widely known as one of Suzuki Roshi’s favorites, captures the wacky spirit, the dedication, and the courage required to leap into the unknown that characterized the earliest Zen students surrounding Suzuki Roshi. (Full disclosure: David became one of my earliest friends when I began my practice in 1974.) Fifty-one years later, an ordained priest and transmitted teacher, I still look up to David as an original member of the A-team. This book, in his authentic and unduplicable voice, is an absolute treasure. Read it. Give a copy to a friend.” —Peter Coyote (Hosho Jishi), actor, director, author

For the author’s earlier book:

“Suzuki challenged [students] to open their minds and face the reality of death—while also making space for laughter and playfulness. He urged students to see the meaning present in everyday life, but to avoid getting attached to one’s thoughts, preferences, and even one’s practice. For Suzuki, the point of Buddhism was not so much about enlightenment, but about sharing in ‘the joy of practice’ and in learning how to ‘die well.’ Buddhist readers both new to or already familiar with Suzuki’s teaching will find disarming simplicity and great wisdom here.” —Publishers Weekly

“Extraordinary, thought-provoking, and highly recommended . . . Essential reading for all students and practitioners of Zen Buddhism.” —Midwest Book Review

“I had a good time reading Tassajara Stories and hoped they would never end. Just as you can’t learn Zen from a book, you can’t really know the Tassajara experience even through this amazing memoir. But you can get caught up in it, especially when it is written with such immediacy and love as David Chadwick has done it. There are valuable lessons galore and more colorful personalities that you could ever hope to find in a faraway haven in the enchanting but haunted woods.” —Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul