Bill Hirsch (Xiao Bai Yun)

(1937-2020)

From Seattle University EcoSangha:

In memoriam: Rev. Bill Hirsch (小白云 Xiaobaiyun), White Cloud Buddhist priest, and longtime co-director of the Seattle University EcoSangha

1 August 1937 – 24 November 2020

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our dear and cherished friend Bill Hirsch, who for many years gave selflessly of himself on behalf of the Dharma. This included almost a decade as a co-director of the Seattle University EcoSangha. He gave many memorable Dharma talks, was a fixture in our annual daylong Zazenkai in the mountains outside of North Bend, and his wisdom, generosity, and compassion helped shape the shared practice that we enjoy today. Bill was a Bodhisattva who left the world better than he found it, although we grieve a world without him. May he rest in power.

Showing their front
showing their back
maple leaves fall
~ Ryokan’s death poem

Obituary written for the Society of American Travel Writers by Yvette Cardozo, Bill Hirsch’s wife:

“Bill Hirsch, a long time SATW member, died after a long illness in Issaquah, WA, Nov. 24. He was born Aug. 1 1937, accidently in Toronto. His parents were fishing on Georgian Bay when his mother unexpectedly went into labor. And though he was born in a Toronto hospital, his birth certificate (well, it was a somewhat paranoid era and his father was a lawyer) showed him being born in Cleveland, OH, which is where he grew up.

Bill played clarinet with the Cleveland Orchestra at 16. His musical talent included relative (similar, but not same as, perfect) pitch but his clarinet career ended abruptly when a horse knocked out his front teeth while he was working at a race track. He planned to go to Oberlin College and study composing. Instead, his parents decided to move to Miami after he graduated high school and he went to the University of Miami, then moved to New York where he got a political science degree at New School.

He spent some time in Vietnam doing work for the military in the early ‘60s, where they taught him Vietnamese (he was fluent). Unfortunately it was the northern dialect, a source of much puzzlement and amusement when we visited Vietnam during the SATW trip to the 1997 Thailand convention. It was then his interest in Buddhism was rekindled and he went on to become a Buddhist priest, though still continued travelling and writing with wife, Yvette Cardozo.

After New York, he moved with his first wife and young son to Florida where first worked for one of the two largest land developers, General Development Corp, and later worked as an investigator for the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes Complaints/Investigations. Yes, he carried a gun. Yes he pulled it once or twice. But he never actually had to do more than that.

He met his wife, Yvette, at a Mensa party in 1981 and they married in 1982. After discovering they worked well together, he took on the investigation and information part of the writing while Yvette concentrated on color and photography. They wrote the finished stories together. He lived without a pituitary from his early 20s and while the doctors then said he probably wouldn’t make it past 40, he did get to 83.”

Bill’s talks at the Seattle Betsuin Buddhist Temple included a memorial for Shinran Shonin , a talk on interbeing and equality, and a talk on One Buddhism. 

Bill’s teaching on emptiness at his White Cloud Buddhism website.

Former Seattle Betsuin Buddhist Temple Minister Don Castro recalls: 

“He was one of our initial “Minister’s Assistants” in a trial program in the 1990’s and taught and conducted services for us before moving on to the Seattle U EcoSangha program and NWDA.

My wife Shuri, who was a chaplain at Swedish, remembers Bill helping out the Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese patients by making CD’s of their native Buddhist chants for the Swedish Spiritual Care Department.  Copies were made and distributed to the Issaquah, Ballard and Cherry Hill campuses and are still available.

I remember Bill’s travelling to our Yakima Buddhist Temple and conducting a service which was attended by a young Mexican-American woman for the first time.  Today, she is one of the leaders of the temple.  She told me it was due to Bill’s clear explanation of Buddhism that she became a Buddhist and joined the temple.  He was particularly articulate about the Buddhist teaching of emptiness and wrote a wonderful article which Jason quoted from at the service.

He was deeply committed, humble and had a wonderful sense of humor and irony.”

Seattle Betsuin Buddhist Assistant Minister Irene Goto recalls: 

“Bill and I drove to Wapato from Seattle on a first Sunday of March to help with Yakima Buddhist Church’s annual Sukiyaki Fundraiser.  I remember being the driver and Bill was on the phone several times on our journey.  He must have called Yvette four times during the 2 ½ hour-drive giving her a blow by blow on the weather, pass condition, and the beauty of the landscape. I thought, ‘What a special friendship they have to be so in-touch, even while apart!’  Bill must have been especially grateful for the cell phone.”

A personal statement about Bill Hirsch by Timothy O’Brien:

The last time I saw Bill was at a lovely outdoor luncheon on Tiger Mountain. There, the group of us old-timer men from the Northwest Dharma Association who had self-identified as “the codgers” who had been meeting regularly for lunch, gathered along with Yvette on the deck of the magical home they had created there. Bill had become incapacitated enough to be unable to attend any other event we codgers had concocted, but this was our opportunity to spend time with him. 

I had known Bill for a long time. He had been one of the most important long-term supporters of the Northwest Dharma Association. He served on the Board for decades. His contribution was always subtle. He did not voice his opinion loudly. He seemed to hold himself mindfully back. But when he did speak it was always to the point. His contribution was immeasurable.

So, we served together. He was always supportive.

Once he retired, our relationship took a whole and exciting turn. The “codgers” were meeting for lunch about every month or so. We ate at fairly familiar restaurants in the International District. I guess it was then I asked Bill about food.

He very enthusiastically suggested we get together to eat lunch. Therefore, for a number of years before his death, we met once a month or so at a restaurant he suggested. The range was tremendous. He taught me how to eat authentic dim sum. He took me to the foremost Sichuan restaurant in the city. He took me to up-scale Vietnamese restaurants where he ordered in Vietnamese things that were not even on the menu.

During these remarkable luncheons, I had a chance to learn about his amazing background: how he had served for the State Department in North Vietnam before the war and therefore know how to speak Vietnamese with a North Vietnamese accent; how he had come to be ordained in a Chinese esoteric sect. And how he and Yvette had been able to travel the world together.

To say that Bill Hirsch was a remarkable person is an understatement.

I wish I could have one more lunch with him. 

Northwest Dharma News Editor Steve Wilhelm recalls: 

“Back when I was a journalist in Seattle, Bill used to drive down to Pioneer Square and we’d have lunch. He always knew of these esoteric Asian restaurants in the area, and he always had very clear and informed ideas about what to order at each. We used to talk about the Dharma, and always I was struck by his quick wit and bluntness, overlaid by a pervasive kindness.

He was for years of inestimable help in editing Northwest Dharma News. Bill was a key source in about happenings in the Asian temple community, and used to offer a few good tips for nearly every issue. This was important, because one of our missions is to help bring the Western and Asian dharma communities in closer contact and harmony. Always it was a delight to hear from him, with the surprising tips he’d offer. Always I marveled at how deeply tied to the Asian dharma sector he was, and so trusted. (P.S. – We’re always very interested in tips about news in the Asian Buddhist community. Please send them over! – stevellen95@comcast.net.)

Always I appreciated how respected he was by Asian monastics in the region. I remember the Vesak celebration at Seattle University many years ago, and how Bill led the procession of monastics with great certitude and presence, around the campus.”

Northwest Dharma News articles by or about Bill Hirsch.

Vietnamese Monk Poet Dies After Long Illness. Bill’s article on Pure Land Buddhist Master Nguyen Kim in the Northwest Dharma News.

Bill Hirsch and Master Nguyen Kim with reclining Buddha statue at Co Lam Pagoda.

“Bill Hirsch and Yvette Cardozo: An award-winning writer/photographer team specializing in offbeat destinations, native culture, skiing, scuba diving, and other fun stuff.” Cardozohirsch website.

Adventure Travel Expands, by Yvette Cardozo and Bill Hirsch. Special to the Chicago Tribune.  

Heart and Seoul: Step into life of Buddhist monk during temple stay, by Yvette Cardozo and Bill Hirsch. Reprint of the Boston Herald, March 5, 2006 article at BuddhistTravel.com. 

Outré of Africa: Great animal herds migrating through countries is a sight that Yvette Cardozo and Bill Hirsch marvel at in safari luxury. India Today, November 26, 2007.

Article in Epoch Times on Bill enjoying Shen Yun.