When Susan Koessler Postal, '61, was a freshman, she heard Zen philosopher Alan Watts speak in Menlo Park. “I said to myself, 'That's it!' and immediately went back to my dorm to sit zazen.”
Her Zen journey had begun.
Fifty years later, the seated silent meditation at the heart of Zen practice is still central to Postal's life. At Empty Hand Zen Center, the zendo she founded in 1986 in Westchester County, N.Y., Susan sits zazen and gives Dharma talks to her community of more than 60 members. Dharma usually includes the teachings of Buddha and later expansions on his teachings.
Finding fulfillment as a full-time Zen priest, she says the practice of zazen, which emphasizes being still and paying attention, “helps people reconnect with everything in their lives. Zen is about awareness, not about beliefs, not about ideas. It's about self-discovery, and encompasses all faiths.”
A sociology major at Stanford, Postal studied philosophy and comparative religion in her spare time. She read everything she could find on Zen. “I wrote papers on Zen and psychology, Zen and existentialism, Zen and Christianity. I had a Western mind, but I was determined to understand Eastern thought. Not many of my professors believed it could be done.”
A notable exception was a visiting professor from Brandeis, Morris Schwartz, who would later become known as the hero of Mitch Albom's memoir, Tuesdays With Morrie. “He sensed my deep yearning to truly understand the Zen path,” Postal says. “He encouraged me greatly.”
After graduating, Postal studied social anthropology at Harvard and later taught introductory anthropology at Queens College in New York. She loved opening students' eyes to other cultures. “I was fascinated by the ways in which people all over the world explored the spirit. I still am.”
In 1970, while raising two children, Postal entered Buddhist practice, influenced by her then-husband's interest in the Tibetan tradition. She eventually realized Buddhism wasn't a fit for her. “It was as if I had put on very beautiful clothes that weren't mine,” she said. In 1980 she began to study with Roshi Glassman at the Zen Community of New York. Her marriage ended but she finally felt at home, once again sitting zazen. She joined another group in Cambridge, Mass., and was ordained as a priest in 1988.
In January, Susan Ji-on (her Dharma name, meaning “compassionate sound”) was confirmed by her current teacher, Darlene Cohen, in a process called Dharma transmission. The ceremony marks the completion of Susan's training, empowering her to be an independent Zen teacher. A traditional teacher's robe, hand-sewn by the members of Susan's sangha, was placed over her shoulder.
Not the end of the journey. Just another beginning.
