Dear Joe I spent some time with a friend and fellow Shaykh in the Halvati Jerrahi Tariqa, Shaykh Salik Schwartz. A real madman of devotion, love and gratitude. He knew Lex Hixon well, was with Shaykh Muzzafer Effendi for years.
I just missed meeting Sensei Bernie by a couple of weeks at the Zen Center of Los Angeles, of which I have just joined. I have been at the Gurdjieff Foundation studying for about 5 years. Sensei Bernie was here and apparently there was quite a bit of talk about the new book, The Dude and the Zen Master. I am back to sit with a Sangah, although I have been sitting and working with the Gurdjieff Foundation, studying the ideas and text of Gurdjieff's All and Everything. But, always "sitting." Even during my sitting with Gurdjieff Foundation I sit zazen. (sitting is different in Gurdjieff Tradition, more Taoist) /\ zendervish --- In [email protected], "Joe" <desert_woodworker@...> wrote: > > Salik, > > One of my dear friends in NY was the late Lex Hixon, who was a transmitted > Dervish of Sheikh Muzaffer, of Istanbul. Lex had his radio show "In The > Spirit" on Free-Speech Radio, Pacifica WBAI-99.5-FM in NYC for two decades, > and brought hundreds of teachers to the USA and to the airwaves, including my > Ch'an teacher, the Ven. Rev. Sheng Yen, PhD. > > I sat one Ch'an retreat in Queens with Lex and my teacher. And many more > with my teacher, and no Lex. > > Lex had been a PhD advisee of Alex Wayman, a Sanskritist at my _alma mater_, > Columbia. > > Whenever I can, I still recommend Lex's first book to everyone, a book whose > title perhaps says enough to introduce it: > > Hixon, Lex; COMING HOME: THE EXPERIENCE OF ENLIGHTENMENT IN SACRED > TRADITIONS, 1978, Doubleday, New York. > > Lex became a member of the Board of Directors of Bernie Glassman's "Zen > Center of New York", uptown in Riverdale, in 1980 or 1981, and I sat with > those guys up there as often as I could, at least two nights a week, although > my teacher and main sangha was in Elmhurst, Queens, where I attended on > Sundays. > > I met Maezumi Roshi at Bernie's first place, before they bought the Greystone > Mansion, and sat several days with him there and heard Maezumi's Teisho. > John Loori was there often in those early days, too, and I became a fast > friend of John's as well. He loved Bologna sandwiches!, while I preferred > Grilled Cheese and Tomato, and he had a nice small zippy car, while my > transportation was the 35-cent subway. We were both photographers, and John > was a disciple of Minor White, photographer _par excellence_. John employed > me to help proofread several of his manuscripts, which became his earliest > published books. John smoked, and I didn't. It was hard to be around his > grey cloud, sometimes. I think it was lung cancer that killed him, recently, > at his monastery at Mount Tremper. > > Here is a blurb about Lex: > > Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order -- > The Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order is a modern dervish order (tariqah) of > Sufism. It is a branch of the Halveti-Jerrahi Tariqah of Istanbul, Turkey, > and was founded in the early 1980s by American Sufis Nur al-Anwar al-Jerrahi > (born Lex Hixon) and Fariha al-Jerrahi (born Philippa De Menil) after they > received direct transmission from their teacher, Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak (Ashki) > al-Jerrahi, the Grand Sheikh of the Halveti-Jerrahi Order at that time. > Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak al-Jerrahi was the 19th successor to Hazreti Pir > Muhammad Nureddin al-Jerrahi, the founding pir of the Halveti-Jerrahi Order. > > from: http://my.wn.com/search/Ground_Zero_mosque?p=0&t=details > > Pardon me, Salik; reminiscences of an Old Man. ;-) > > Zen is home for me too, Salik. > > Now trying to make a home for Zen: a Ch'an practice group for the State of > Arizona! Something new for our desert of plenty. > > Salam, Aloha, gassho, and see ya, > > --Joe > > > "salik888" <novelidea8@> wrote: > > > > Joe > > > > I am a mureed in the Naqshbandi Tariqa, was intitiated, given intstruction > > in Fiqh, Zikr,Wird, pratices, etc . . . I actually practiced Islam for a > > number of years, had several Shaykhs. I have long-standing connections, > > involvement in Gurdjieff Work Groups. Of course Gurdjieff is sort of a > > Central Asian school. But I rarely go into the Sufi community anymore. Zen > > is home for me . . . > ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
