Shunryu suzuki biography of michael lewis

Lewis Richmond remembers the great teacher who founded the San Francisco Zen Center and played a historic role in the establishment of Buddhism in the West. By Lewis Richmond. Shunryu Suzuki Roshi has had an enormous influence on the growth of buddhadharma in the West. Yet when he came to San Francisco in , he had no plans, no grand strategy—only a bottomless confidence in the power of the dharma.

He sat zazen every morning in his temple, alone, until gradually some American students began to join him. But Suzuki Roshi did not like us making something special out of who he was.

Shunryu suzuki biography of michael lewis: Shunryu Suzuki was a Sōtō

When the Japanese Soto sect sent him a yellow robe—a high honor—he would not wear it. The credit, to his mind, belonged not to him, but to the dharma itself, and to us. In the end, what he cared about was us. His life straddled the ancient and modern worlds. Born in Japan in , the son of a Zen priest, he was trained by the best teachers of his generation.