The Zen community in Mexico was lucky enough to get a taste of authentic practice in the early seventies. A bunch of us gathered around a remarkable Japanese Zen priest, Ejo Takata Roshi. We were both men and women, many intellectually oriented, others with a personal or family background of exposure to spiritual training, such as yoga, martial arts, and pre-hispanic Mexican traditions…

Perhaps the most distinctively “Mexican” ingredient in our practice is that we are quite used to images of death. I believe it is a cultural feature resulting from the blending of our ancient folk traditions with the strong Catholic culture brought from Spain. In a way we Mexicans are cousins of impermanence, which is quite a good beginning if the task is to become one with impermanence…

Excerpted from Turning Wheel, Spring 2001