FORUM | HEAR OUR VOICES 45
starting at 4 a.m., and then when I com-
pleted my doctorate and was looking for
a place to start my career, I gravitated
toward an area close enough to be able
to practice with him. I think it was in
those micro-moments that I began slowly
devoting my life to the dharma. Not like,
oh, I’m going to be a teacher, but like,
this is the most important thing, so I
shaped and prioritized all my decisions
with that in mind.MYOAN GRACE SCHIRESON: I was at UC
Berkeley in the sixties and I remember
riding my motorcycle across the Bay
Bridge to meet Suzuki Roshi. That
encounter scared me to death. We were
dressed in our hippie garb, and he said
he knew why we were there—that we
had come to learn how to get high. And
he said, “The more you practice, the
more you’ll realize that life is suffering.”
I couldn’t get out of the building fast
enough. Then, maybe a couple months
later, I was saying goodbye to my boy-
friend who lived in a psychedelic school
bus. I was standing on the sidewalk
barefoot when I looked up and noticed
there was a convalescent hospital with
people sitting on the porch in wheel-
chairs. And I said, “Oh, that’s what he
meant.” I felt like the course of a river
had shifted under my feet, that my whole
life was changed in that moment. So that
was when I knew the dharma had me; it
owned me from then on. That was some
fifty-two years ago.PEMA KHANDRO RINPOCHE: I want to
ask about female role models. I had
one teacher, Ani Dawa—we called herMoma-la—who was ninety-four at the
time I received teachings from her; she
recently passed away. But meeting her
was such a revision of how I saw myself
and how I saw my life, because in her I
saw this really powerful embodiment of
realized energy as a woman. I wonder,
are there particular women teachers or
role models you’ve looked to in your life?MYOAN GRACE SCHIRESON: One was
closer to me in status but still my senior
sister, Saisho Maylee Scott, who started a
community in Arcada. I remember think-
ing that it wouldn’t have been possible
for me to stay at the Berkeley Zen Center
without her. The other teacher I worked
with quite closely was Blanche Hartman,
and she was very motherly. Both Maylee
and Blanche had children—Blanche had
I think four, and Maylee had three—
and I have two sons. The idea that we
belonged in this community, that we
belonged in the depth of the dharma as
women with children was kind of new to
us and also to the male teachers. When I
was ordained, my teacher said that hav-
ing a family was getting in the way. But
Blanche had a kind of warmth that just
made you feel cared for. She told a story
about visiting a friend who had just had
a baby: when Blanche saw the baby, sheWe must encourage younger women
teachers to find their own voice
and to find a kind of authenticity
within their experiences, whatever
their experiences have been.
—NARAYAN HELEN LIEBENSON