Rick McDaniel was raised in Indiana and moved to Canada in 1967, where he earned a masters and PhD. He taught at the University of New Brunswick and Saint Thomas University for twelve years before beginning a career in International Development and Fair Trade. He became interested in Zen practice in 1971 and studied with Albert Low of the Montreal Zen Center. He's the author of eight books on the subject beginning with Zen Masters of China: The First Step East, and most recently, Further Zen Conversations. He lives in New Brunswick, Canada.