THE DRIFTING CLOUD SCHOLAR
In my fourteen years of wandering around Taiwan, I discovered many karmic connections with a number of wonderful teachers. As a graduate student in medieval Chinese Buddhist history, I would ride my bike into the countryside around Taipei visiting monasteries. Part of my interest was to better understand the role of Buddhism in Chinese society. With that understanding I might have a clearer insight to the medieval Buddhist texts and historical records I was studying as a graduate student. Many of these visits led to amazing discoveries. There was a whole generation of senior Chinese Buddhist monks who had escaped the religious persecution across the Taiwan Strait to settle in the Taiwanese countryside. I learned and continue to learn much from their experience and wisdom.
There is one lay teacher included in my group of much revered spiritual teachers. Dr. David W. Chappell was my teacher, my friend, and an elder brother to me. He was one of the kindest people I’ve ever met.
