We love a good “former assistant done good” story, and this one’s a classic. Troubadour Leonard Cohen got his start as a PA, but in the most unconventional way.
…when he became a Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk – taking the Dharma name Jikhan (meaning silent one) at the retreat he inhabited on Mount Baldy, California – it was because his guru Joshu Roshi, whom he served as a personal assistant and drinking partner, “wanted me to do it for tax purposes.”
You can read more about the fascinating life of Leonard Cohen in The Gazette. And who knew Buddhist monks needed assistants, anyway? Isn’t that a form of attachment?
