This book recounts the work it takes to become a hospital chaplain, showing how intensely personal and physical that experience can become.
The author started his chaplain training with the arrogance of a medical school faculty member and the certainty of a Zen priest and teacher. And he started with a drive to reform a system of care that hadn't served his wife and himself when their youngest son received a diagnosis of cerebral palsy years earlier.
But he hadn't counted on the humbling that work with patients, some of them with sorrows beyond measure, can bring. Once his arrogance and certainty had been shaken, he found unexpected forms of caring for patients and staff, and for himself.
Suffering, like loneliness or love, is a core human experience. The key question for any of us is, "How will I survive this?" But an equally tough question for those whose work is to alleviate suffering is "How will I face this? Not just this particular person with this particular pain but the relentless flow of suffering that comes in the door day after day, year after year?"
Unfortunately, there is very little literature that describes how one learns to face suffering. There are books that talk about the nature of suffering from a religious point of view. There are books that talk about the psychological needs for health care professionals to be "protected" from the suffering and trauma they face during their work.
There are books that talk about a Buddhist perspective on alleviating suffering. There are also numerous books that talk about the role of "mindfulness" in working with patients, but none of these books do what this book does: showing how the author was shaped to do the work they do. The underlying premise of this book is that if you yourself haven't learned to face suffering, then your ability to help others face suffering is limited.
The author has trained in Zen Buddhism for over forty years, most recently serving as the head priest for the rural training facility of Chosei Zen in rural Wisconsin. Before moving to Wisconsin, he was a faculty member for fifteen years in the School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii, working to teach medical students and residents how to best form a therapeutic relationship with patients. Now he has a role as clinical professor of Family Medicine at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Gordon Hakuun Greene is the Head Priest of Spring Green Dojo, the rural training center for Chosei Zen, a Rinzai Zen Buddhist training organization headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. He received inka from Tenshin Tanouye Roshi of Chozen-ji in 1996 and founded Spring Green Dojo in 2006. Greene Roshi serves on the Board of Directors for Chosei Zen and the Institute for Zen Leadership. Dr. Greene received his PhD in Physical Geography in 1981 from the University of Michigan. His formal monastic training took place at Chozen-ji from 1984 - 87, and he was ordained as a priest in 1988. He joined the faculty of the John A. Burns School of Medicine as a medical educator in 1991, serving in both the Department of Family Medicine and the Office of Medical Education until moving to Wisconsin in 2006. Within that Office, he founded the Program for Medical Education in East Asia and has maintained teaching and consulting ties with medical schools and hospitals in Japan ever since. In Wisconsin, he is affiliated with the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, serving as Clinical Professor of Family Medicine. He has also trained and served as a hospital chaplain and has published an account of his training experience in a book Facing Suffering. He lives at Spring Green Dojo, actively running four sesshin each year as well as other training events. He also trains in Zen calligraphy (shodo) and has exhibited his work.
Emeritus Professor Chairman, 1993 - 2006 Department of Family Medicine and Community Health University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health President, 1998 - 1999, Society of Teachers of Family Medicine
