Acknowledgments

I wish to acknowledge those disciples, students and friends who helped to make this book possible. Ming-yee Wang, Paul Kennedy, Dan Stevenson and Pei-gwang Dowiat, who expertly translated my Dharma lectures during the evenings of intensive retreats. Dorothy Weiner, Nancy Makso and Echo Bonner, who patiently and painstakingly transcribed the taped lectures into written form so that the lectures could be edited.

It was not an easy task to turn these Dharma talks into a book. The lectures passed under the scrutiny of several people ─ Ernest Heau, Professor Chun-fang Yu, Gregory B. Talovich and Sebastian Bonner ─ before they were edited into one, cohesive narrative by Christopher Marano. Although the final version was Chris' effort, the extensive work of the other editors was not wasted, and I am most grateful. Thanks also to Nancy Patchen, Stuart Lachs, and especially Harry Miller, for their valuable advice and suggestions regarding the flow and tone of the book; and thanks to Jonathan Bardin and Alan Rubinstein, who thoroughly proof-read the final manuscript.

A book is more than its words. For this reason I wish to thank Page Simon for designing the book and its cover, Lili Lauritano Grady for the cover photography. And last, but certainly not least, I thank Trish Ing, who coordinated all phases of the production of this book.

My deepest gratitude goes out to all those people who attended the intensive Ch'an retreats and made it possible for these words to exist.