As most will be aware by now, John Daido Loori Roshi has stepped down as head of the Mountains and Rivers Order and now appears to be approaching the end of his life.
I know him and his teachings through "Cave of Tigers: Modern Zen Encounters", "Art of Just Sitting: Essential Writings on the Zen Practice of Shikantaza", MRO videos on-line and from the recollections of my teachers at the Western Chan Fellowship after a visit they made to him a few years ago.
He always comes across as strong and deeply compassionate and his writings are full of life and warmth. I whole heartedly recommend any of his teachings.
At this time Daido Roshi is in my mind and heart. And I keep practising. I invite you to do the same.
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha!
Posts
3 comments:
UPDATE FROM MahaSangha News
John Daido Loori, American Dharma pioneer, dies
John Daido Loori (b. circa 1930), one of the most influential of American Buddhist teachers, has died.
Loori passed away at around 9:30 am this morning. Details on services in recognition of his death will be forthcoming.
A dharma-heir of Taizan Mazeumi Roshi, Loori founded and served as Abbot General of the Mountain and Rivers Order, whose home base is the famous Zen Mountain Monastery, located in Mt. Tremper, New York.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold will step into the position of Abbot General; Konrad Ryushin Marchaj will become Abbot of ZMM itself.
Loori will be remembered not only for his teachings, but for his pioneering work in service of the dharma; Loori enthusiastically embraced the web, book publishing, and other innovations whenever they presented themselves. An accomplished photographer, he was also well-known for embracing the arts as tools for spiritual development.
For more details on the life and work of John Daido Loori, see this profile from the Shambhala Sun archives.
We at the Shambhala Sun Foundation wish to express to our friends in the MRO – and all others who are feeling the loss of this significant teacher – our sympathy in this difficult time, and our very best wishes for the future.
***
_/\_
_/\_
_/\_
Dharma Brother Daido: Bernie Glassman recalls his longtime friendship with the late John Daido Loori
In this tribute, which will be published in the forthcoming issue of Buddhadharma, along with additional recollections and teachings, Bernie Glassman recalls his personal connection to the fellow Zen roshi who, though now gone, will be remembered as a dharma-friend by so many.
I met Daido at Naropa in the summer of 1976 where he was teaching Zen and photography. He was a striking figure, even among the throng of famous and infamous counterculture icons gathering around Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. He would stalk about, camera pointing, tall, lanky, slightly hunched forward. The emotional impact of his photographs astonished me, and still does today: fragments of the natural world intensely manifesting heightened consciousness. We hit it off and talked a lot—about our lives, wives, work, Zen and spirituality. Although Daido’s heart was in the abstraction he had learned from photographer Minor White, he had earned a living photographing wildlife, transporting the zazen of the meditation hall to brambled lairs where he lay in snow for hours waiting for a fox and her cubs to show.
I invited him to the Zen Center of Los Angeles to study with Maezumi Roshi and me, and to become director of center publication. He did a wonderful job. He and his wife and son lived in my house and we spent lots of time together. At intimate moments, he had a characteristic gesture of pinching your cheek with his thumb and forefinger.
He collaborated with Maezumi Roshi on The Way of Everyday Life, a translation of the Genjo Koan by Dogen Zenji. It included a commentary by Maezumi Roshi and Daido’s own photographic expressions of the profound and intricate text. Many of his photographs were in sumptuous colors. Daido had been a chemist and had worked professionally in the field, so he went himself to the print factory and supervised the mixing of the chemicals for the color production of the book to ensure the images emerged exactly as he envisioned. This thoroughness and rigor characterized all Daido’s endeavors in life.
We traveled back to New York together in 1980, where he helped me begin the Zen Community of New York, then left to establish his Zen center at Mt. Tremper in upstate New York. Throughout the ensuing years, I admired Daido’s intense focus and commitment to the dharma. Under his strict guidance, Mt. Tremper became a beacon for strong Zen training in the United States. I encounter people all over the world who were introduced to practice there or deepened their practice with him. I have come to know and appreciate his successors and the Mountain and Rivers Order he developed.
Daido has always been one of the most creative leaders establishing buddhadharma in the West. His love for and immersion in the natural world led him to open the Zen Environmental Study Institute, and to expand Zen training to include excursions in the wilderness, helping others reconnect or connect for the first time with nature. He has offered Mt. Tremper as a presentation site for so many wonderful teachers from a huge range of traditions and disciplines. He founded Dharma Communications, which continues to provide a quality, multimedia source for Buddhist teachings. He has written and edited so many wonderful books on traditional and modern forms of Zen practice, Buddhist ethics, art as the sacred-made-visual, and philosophy. His tireless devotion to the work of Dogen Zenji has helped introduce this seminal Buddhist to a wide audience of practitioners, academics, and artists in the West.
I’d like to offer a poem for my friend:
Deep within wild flowers,
Partridges cry out.
Tears like falling petals
Blow in the Wind.
Eternally and Everlastingly,
It is Revealing Itself.
Above the Bare Branches,
Whistling at the Moon, Playing in the Clouds,
The Golden Phoenix Soars hand in hand with
Dharma Brother Daido.
Further update and clarification from MahaSangha News:
John Daido Loori, American Dharma pioneer, dies
We are sad to report that, after the illness that in part led to his decision earlier this month to retire, prominent Zen teacher John Daido Loori (b. circa 1930) has died.
Loori passed away at around 7:30 am this morning. Details on services in recognition of his death will be forthcoming.
A dharma-heir of Taizan Mazeumi Roshi, Loori founded and served as Abbot General of the Mountain and Rivers Order, whose home base is the famous Zen Mountain Monastery, located in Mt. Tremper, New York.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold will step into the position of Abbot General; Konrad Ryushin Marchaj will become Abbot of ZMM itself.
Loori will be remembered not only for his teachings, but for his pioneering work in service of the dharma; Loori enthusiastically embraced the web, book publishing, and other innovations whenever they presented themselves. An accomplished photographer, he was also well-known for embracing the arts as tools for spiritual development. (See Loori’s online portfolio, here.)
For more details on the life and work of John Daido Loori, see this profile from the Shambhala Sun archives. Also: The MRO has prepared a carefully made mini-site in remembrance of their Abbot. Visit it and feel free to leave a message on their visitors’ log.
We at the Shambhala Sun Foundation wish to express to our friends in the MRO – and all others who are feeling the loss of this significant teacher – our sympathy in this difficult time, and our very best wishes for the future.
Post a Comment