Research paper for asian religion
Buddhist teachers. Aitken was a great teacher and taught many students. At his Zen training centers you could spend about eight months of the year in serious zen training, including eight seven day retreats annually. if you wanted to drop everything and have a run at enlightenment, it was the place for you. “. Aitken has given full transmission as independent masters to Nelson Foster, Honolulu Diamond Sangha and Ring of Bone Zendo in Nevada City, California; John Tarrant , Pacific Zen Institute in Santa Rosa, California; Patrick Hawk, Zen Desert Sangha in Tucson, Arizona, and Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa
Fe, New Mexico; Joseph Bobrow , Harbor Sangha in San Francisco, California; Jack Duffy , Three Treasures Sangha in Seattle, Washington; Augusto Alcalde, Vimalakirti Sangha, in Cordoba, Argentina and Rolf Drosten, Wolken-und- MondSangha (Clouds and Moon Sangha) , in Leverkusen, Germany. He authorized Pia Gyger, One Ground Zendo in Luzern, Switzerland, as an affiliate teacher of the Diamond Sangha. He joined with John Tarrant in giving transmission as independent masters to Subhana Barzaghi in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; and to Ross Bolleter in Perth, Western Australia.
He established the Honolulu center as a lay community that was particularly nota ble for an egalitarian approach that was welcoming to women. He was Buddhist Zen teacher in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He co- founded the Honolulu Diamond Sangha in 1 959 with his wife. Aitken received Dharma transmission from Koum Yamada in 1985 but decided to live as a layperson. He was a socialist advocating social justice for gays, women and native Hawaiians throughout his life, and was one of the original founders of the Buddhist peace fellowship. In the camp, he met the British scholar R. H.
Blyth, ho introduced him to Zen Buddhism. In 1974 he was given approval to teach by Yamada Roshi of the Sanbo Kyodan in Kamakura, who gave him transmission as an independent master in 1985. Although he was not the first Zen leader to preach social engagement, Aitken was known for his strong commitment to social justice. The “monastery’ walls have broken down and the old teaching and practice of wisdom, love and responsibility are freed for the widest applications in the domain of social affairs,” he wrote in a 1 993 book, “Encouraging Words. ” One of Aitkens successors now is the current teacher Michael Kieran, at the
Palolo Zen Center, he worked with Aitken for many years and began teaching at Koko-an Zendo in the 1980s. He withdrew from teaching to focus on his family and growing business. Later, after Aitken’s retirement, he began to work with Nelson Foster, a dharma heir of Aitken and the visiting teacher of Palolo Center. Michael was authorized to teach by Nelson Foster in 1 999 and received transmission in 2004, ascending the Mountain Seat in 2006. He is an O’ahu resident and offers regular dokusan and sesshin at Palolo Zen Center. Aitken’s students have opened centers in Germany, Argentina, Australia, New
Zealand and the United States. After the war, he practiced Zen with Senzaki Nyogen Sensei in Los Angeles, and traveled frequently to Japan to practice in monasteries and lay centers with Nakagawa Soen Roshi, Yasutani Haku’un Roshi , and Yamada Koun Roshi. In 1 974, he was given approval to teach by the Yamada Roshi, Abbot of the Sanbo Kyodan in Kamakura, Japan, who gave him transmission as an independent master in 1985. Robert Aitken is the author of more than ten books on Zen Buddhism , and co-author of a book-length Buddhist-Christian dialogue .
In Hawai’i he was nstrumental in founding the Koko An Zendo, the Palolo Zen Center, the Maui Zendo, and the Garden Island Sangha. A number of other centers in Europe, North and South America, and Australasia are part of the Diamond Sangha network; Robert Aitken is co-founder ofthe Buddhist Peace Fellowship (now with a local East Hawai’i Chapter) and serves on its international board of advisors. He has been active in a number of peace’s, social justice, and ecological movements, and his writing reflects his concern that Buddhists be engaged in social applications of their experience. He co-authored a book-length Buddhist-Christian dialogue.
In Hawai’ i he was instrumental in founding the Koko An Zendo, the Plolo Zen Center, the Maui Zendo, and the Garden Island Sangha. A number of other centers in Europe, North and South America, and Australasia are part of the Diamond Sangha network. The books he wrote were, Zen Wave: Basho’s Haiku and Zen The Morning Star, New and Selected Zen Writings Zen, Master Raven; Sayings and Doings of a Wise Bird, Taking the path of Zen, The Dragon Who Never Sleeps: Verses for Zen Buddhist Practice, Encouraging Words: Zen Buddhist Teachings for Western Student, The Gateless Barrier: The Wu-Men Kuan, The
Ground We Share: Everyday Practice, Buddhist and Christian, Mind of Clover: Essays in Zen Buddhist Ethics, Original Dwelling Place: Zen Buddhist Essays, The practice of Perfection: The paramitas from a Zen Buddhist perspective, Book of Serenity, Buddhist Bible, For a Future to Be Possible: Commentaries on the Five Mindfulness Trainings, Roaring Stream. According to John Tarrant” He was not the shiny, self-assured, clear creature that Zen masters were advertised to be.
