The True History of Swami Kree

• In grad school, when I began teaching, I became interested in the possible pedagogic uses of paradox and contradiction. This culminated in a very controversial academic article "English Composition As A Happening" that was published in College English in 1967. Read.
  The controversy was renewed as recently as 2002 when a book with the same title (with homage to my work) was published. Read.
  
• Later I discovered a thin book called "Zen and the Comic Spirit." Forget the author. Historically, many zen masters used paradox and contradiction in their teachings. One was an 8th C monk named Teng Yin-feng. Teng presumably, as a lesson to his students, , died standing on his head. In 1975, before moving to Portland, I wrote a one-act play called "The Death of Teng Yin-feng." Read. This was my first attempt at Swami Kree.
  
• In 1983 I was commissioned by New Rose to write the Moliere play. I had a situation where I could live rent free in Bend and went there. The papers there were full of Rajneeshi news, much more than in Portland. Also, the Bhagwan was on his vow of silence. This latter is hugely important. If he had been talking, he would not have fascinated me because once he talked, he just sounded like a politician to me. But silent, I could fantasize that he was a Zen clown. Bend was full of unemployed mill workers. What on earth would these two camps have to say to one another once the vow of silence ended? This was the question that created the play, fueled by my long interest in paradox and contradiction as methods of knowledge and enlightenment. Yes, the Rajneesh were an influence of sorts -- but Eng Comp as a Happening and Teng Yin-feng are far greater contributors to the DNA of Swami Kree.
  

The background of the pivotal character in Christmas at the Juniper Tavern. So he was almost 20 years in the making, 1967-1984.