The great teacher who founded the San Francisco Zen Center and played a historic role in the establishment of Buddhist practice in the West was born on this day in 1904. Lewis Richmond remembers him. Shunryu Suzuki Roshi has had an enormous influence on the growth of buddhadharma in the West. Yet when he came to San Francisco in 1959, he had no plans, no grand strategy—only a [...]
Buddhist scholar Ananda Guruge dies at 85
Ananda Wahihana Palliya Guruge, a Sri Lankan diplomat and Buddhist scholar, passed away yesterday at age 85. The author of 53 books in English and Sinhala, Guruge served as vice president of the World Fellowship of Buddhists, patron of the European Buddhist Union, and dean of academic affairs and director of the International Academy of Buddhism at University of the West in [...]
Joshu Sasaki Roshi dead at 107
From Myoren Yasukawa & Gento Krieger of Rinzai-Ji Zen Center, the home temple of Joshu Sasaki Roshi, comes this message: It is with a heavy heart that we inform you that Joshu Sasaki Roshi passed away at 4:25 p.m. [Sunday] afternoon at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. We will update you soon with funeral arrangements. Born in Japan in 1907, Sasaki would study and [...]
Roshi Pia Gyger dies at age 74
The Zen Peacemakers site reports today that Pia Gyger, a psychologist and Zen teacher in the White Plum Sangha lineage, has passed away. Our thoughts go to her family, students, and sangha. Starting in the 1970s, Gyger trained extensively in Japan and in Hawaii, eventually receiving dharma transmission from Robert Aitken and being confirmed as a Zen master by Tetsugen Bernie [...]
Remembering spiritual pioneer Reb Zalman (1924-2014)
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, better known as "Reb Zalman," one of the founders of the Jewish Renewal Movement, died on July 2, at the age of 89. "Schachter-Shalomi believed in adopting and sharing spiritual traditions in order to create a world where distinct religions remain but are integrated with one another," writes Shaul Magid in an obituary for The Jewish Daily [...]
Zen Peacemakers Order honors passing of Malgorzata Braunek, teacher and Bearing Witness retreat organizer
The Zen Peacemakers Order this week has been honoring one of its stalwart members, Polish actress Małgorzata (Malgosia) Braunek, who passed away from cancer June 23 at the age of 67. Braunek, a Zen practitioner under various teachers since 1979, led the Polish sangha Kanzeon since 1992 and was one of the co-organizers for many of Zen Peacemakers’ well-known Bearing Witness [...]
John Stapleton Driver dies, one of first Westerners to receive teachings from Tibetan lamas in exile
John E. Stapleton Driver, one of the first Westerners to form a relationship with the Tibetan Buddhist lamas fleeing the Chinese occupation of their homeland, passed away May 28 in England at age 83. According to a biography posted to the Facebook page of Dilgo Khyentse Fellowship – Shechen, Driver was a gifted linguist who taught himself Tibetan at an early age. Studies in [...]
Patriarch of Vietnamese Buddhism dies, Dalai Lama sends special letter to mourners
The Patriarch of Vietnamese Buddhism, Most Venerable Thich Tri Tinh, passed away last week on the day before his 98th birthday, prompting Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to write a special letter directly to the National Vietnam Buddhist Sangha. In the letter, reports phayul.com, the Dalai Lama expressed his sorrow and sympathy, saying “the best way to pay tribute to [...]
“No complaints”: Writer, Zen master Peter Matthiessen, 1927-2014
Peter Matthiessen—towering literary figure, passionate naturalist and environmental activist, onetime CIA agent, student and teacher of Zen—passed away April 5 after a year’s struggle with leukemia. He was 86. Matthiessen was on the cusp of publishing the 33rd book of his 60-year writing career, In Paradise, a novel based on his experiences on three “Bearing Witness” [...]
Buddhist scholar Helmut Krassner passes away at 57, warmly remembered
The International Association of Tibetan Studies has posted a moving farewell to respected Buddhist scholar Helmut Krasser, who passed away over the weekend at age 57. IATS says that Krassner most recently served as director of the Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna) since 2007, during which time he “had been [...]
