Jim Bedard began practicing Zen meditation twenty-five years ago as a student of Roshi Philip Kapleau. He also studied martial arts for fifteen years and holds a fifth-degree black belt in karate. Since his bone marrow transplant in 1995, he has been in a state of remission from leukemia. He divides his time between a sales and marketing job and working at the Toronto Zen Centre. He lives in Bethany, Ontario.