dewdrop_world
01-13-2007, 11:32 PM
I learned via the Gay Buddhist Open Forum mailing list that Roger Corless passed on recently.
I knew Dr. Corless when I was a grad student at Duke. I was just getting interested in Buddhism and his field of study was Buddhist-Christian dialogue (oh yeah, and he was gay too). We met several times and had wonderful conversations, even tried to start a gay Buddhist group in the Durham, NC area but it never became self-sustaining. We emailed a few times after he moved to the Bay Area and eventually lost touch. But I remember him very fondly and credit him with helping me find support in my beginning meditation practice over 11 years ago when I was starting out and not sure where to go. He was very well-known in gay Buddhist circles and would frequently give dharma talks at gay Buddhist groups and centers.
He was quintessentially British, not quite deadpan (he would often chuckle at his own jokes) but his sense of humor was drier than sherry, frequently self-deprecating and wise the great majority of the time. He could seem to ramble on in an absentminded professor sort of way, only he was never really absentminded and just when you weren't expecting it, out would come a nugget that would cut right to the heart of the matter. He was fearless in his way -- academically he was at odds with his department for pursuing experiential research and the gay study raised some eyebrows I'm sure, but he plunged ahead whatever the obstacles. But what I remember most is his warmth, always offered freely, never with an expectation of anything in return. That is still real to me, even though I haven't seen him in probably 4-5 years now.
Travel well, my friend.
James
http://www.innerexplorations.com/catew/9.htm discusses his work in balancing Buddhist and Christian practices, and has a representative photo of him as I knew him.
I knew Dr. Corless when I was a grad student at Duke. I was just getting interested in Buddhism and his field of study was Buddhist-Christian dialogue (oh yeah, and he was gay too). We met several times and had wonderful conversations, even tried to start a gay Buddhist group in the Durham, NC area but it never became self-sustaining. We emailed a few times after he moved to the Bay Area and eventually lost touch. But I remember him very fondly and credit him with helping me find support in my beginning meditation practice over 11 years ago when I was starting out and not sure where to go. He was very well-known in gay Buddhist circles and would frequently give dharma talks at gay Buddhist groups and centers.
He was quintessentially British, not quite deadpan (he would often chuckle at his own jokes) but his sense of humor was drier than sherry, frequently self-deprecating and wise the great majority of the time. He could seem to ramble on in an absentminded professor sort of way, only he was never really absentminded and just when you weren't expecting it, out would come a nugget that would cut right to the heart of the matter. He was fearless in his way -- academically he was at odds with his department for pursuing experiential research and the gay study raised some eyebrows I'm sure, but he plunged ahead whatever the obstacles. But what I remember most is his warmth, always offered freely, never with an expectation of anything in return. That is still real to me, even though I haven't seen him in probably 4-5 years now.
Travel well, my friend.
James
http://www.innerexplorations.com/catew/9.htm discusses his work in balancing Buddhist and Christian practices, and has a representative photo of him as I knew him.