“This is a fantastic book about a character I have long wanted to make a film about. A devastating life, and a heroic conclusion.”

— Gus van Sant, director of Good Will Hunting, and Milk

“Street Zen is about much more than the life of Issan Dorsey—it is an exploration of how the material of our whole lives can be used as fuel for awakening.”

— Lama Rod Owens, author of Love & Rage, and coauthor of Radical Dharma

“A fascinating account of the life and death of an extraordinary teacher who was also a pioneer in the ‘engaged Buddhism’ that seems bound to be the way of American Zen.”

— Peter Matthiessen, author of Nine-Headed Dragon River, and The Snow Leopard

“A look at Zen masters, their sublimity, scandals, and humanity; a tearful chronicle of home-grown American Buddhist heroism.”

— Allen Ginsberg