twists and turns.

Ten years ago or so, I did a 3-week residential program at San Francisco Zen Center. There was a guy there, James, who lived there full-time, and was close to his full monk/priest ordination. He was strikingly young, under 22, I think: even in American Zen's boom years of the 70s and 80s, it was rare for anyone that young to decide to be a professional cleric. But there he was.

The folks at City Center were an insular bunch, often not very interested in connecting with the transients like me. I did have one conversation with James, and it stuck with me. One night he was stationed at the front door desk, working on the copious sewing of the several items required for monk ordination--the sewing takes a few years, as a rule--and I talked to him about his background. It emerged that he had never really lived out in the world: he went from his family of origin directly into two or three consecutive religious communities. He didn't seem to know about the world that was out there, and professed not to be interested in it; his path to adulthood was the same as the path of his calling.

I was skeptical.

He did finish the ordination, and eventually moved out to a Zen center in middle America that needed a priest. He had a blog, updated erratically (as one does). Six-ish months later, his blog mentioned he was stepping away from the priesthood for a bit, to live alone and independently. I think of him often, and not just because I was right, as amusing as that can be: his experience is thought-provoking. City Center wasn't wrong to ordain him, I don't think, but most of the teachers there are pretty sharp, and I don't imagine they were surprised.

I look him up sometimes, and usually don't find anything, except for this most recent time. He's a public defender, with a couple of little kids.

In my hometown. Which I don't think of as a place people move to, as a rule, although I'm sure housing is cheap.