Dogo Barry Graham Sensei, Abbot of The Sitting Frog Zen Center, is a Zen monk who has been practicing for two decades, beginning at River of Dharma Zen Sangha in Glasgow, Scotland, and continuing his training at Butsudo Zen Center in Kyoto, Japan, where he received Dharma Transmission from Ando Yamashiro Roshi. He now lives in Phoenix, Arizona, his adopted home.
Dogo is also a social activist and a novelist, poet, screenwriter and journalist. He is the author of five published books, and his work has appeared in various national magazines, including Harper's and Flaunt. His novel The Book of Man was chosen by the American Library Association as one of the best books of 1995. Details magazine called him "one of the real literary finds," and American Book Review called him "the awesome Barry Graham... where innovative writing meets issues that matter." His book on Zen, Kill Your Self: Life After Ego, is forthcoming. His article about the two executions he has witnessed, "Why I Watch People Die," was published in Flaunt in 2008 and won a FOLIO Silver Medal in the Best Single Article category. The French magazine Transfuge recently named him one of the great "post-realist" authors, and a collection of his work will be published in French translation in 2011.
His teaching style is direct and accessible. "My teaching isn't about self-improvement or self-help," he says. "There's no self to improve or help. I don't ask anyone to believe in anything, because I don't believe in anything. I teach enlightenment - freedom from suffering - here and now."
Dogo also writes a blog, Illusory Flowers in an Empty Sky, named one of the "Great Buddhist Blogs" by Tricycle magazine.
Dogo is also a social activist and a novelist, poet, screenwriter and journalist. He is the author of five published books, and his work has appeared in various national magazines, including Harper's and Flaunt. His novel The Book of Man was chosen by the American Library Association as one of the best books of 1995. Details magazine called him "one of the real literary finds," and American Book Review called him "the awesome Barry Graham... where innovative writing meets issues that matter." His book on Zen, Kill Your Self: Life After Ego, is forthcoming. His article about the two executions he has witnessed, "Why I Watch People Die," was published in Flaunt in 2008 and won a FOLIO Silver Medal in the Best Single Article category. The French magazine Transfuge recently named him one of the great "post-realist" authors, and a collection of his work will be published in French translation in 2011.
His teaching style is direct and accessible. "My teaching isn't about self-improvement or self-help," he says. "There's no self to improve or help. I don't ask anyone to believe in anything, because I don't believe in anything. I teach enlightenment - freedom from suffering - here and now."
Dogo also writes a blog, Illusory Flowers in an Empty Sky, named one of the "Great Buddhist Blogs" by Tricycle magazine.