Issan Dorsey

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Personal

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Family

American Zen Master, psychedelic drug addict and AIDS activist, he died of AIDS in 1990 at Maitri Hospice, a San Francisco center for AIDS patients, which he founded. Dorsey is the subject of the biography, "Street Zen: The Life and Work of Issan Dorsey." A gay man and drag queen, alcoholic and finally Buddhist teacher, he was a female impersonator in San Francisco in the 1950s and his LSD experiences led him to Zen. In 1989, after 20 years of Zen practice, he became Abbot of San Francisco's Hartford Street Zen Center where he founded the famed Maitri Hospice for AIDS patients. Born to a large Irish-Italian Catholic family with 10 younger brothers and sisters, he was a mediocre student though he found his niche in amateur theatre. He acknowledged his homosexuality in his adolescence. After six months of college, he on a whim decided to join the navy. As a sailor in the 50s he was initiated into gay life in Laguna Beach; on a ship to Korea, he fell in love with a fellow sailor. He and his lover received dishonorable discharges and went on to perform in gay nightclubs. His character, Tommy Dee was born, the leader of a traveling drag show, "the Party of Four." Tragically all the other members were killed in a car crash, with only Tommy surviving, though seriously injured. From the accident, and through years of abusing his body with drugs and the rigors of performing, he ended up in San Francisco General where doctors realized his organs were badly askew, and he underwent life-saving surgery. He suddenly gave up drugs after living in a commune, absorbing Buddhist philosophy, and experiencing the death of his brother. Link to Wikipedia biography