Zen In America - Shunryū Suzuki Roshi 祥岳俊隆 (1968)
The one-hour-long documentary of spliced footage chronicles the life of Shunryū Suzuki Roshi, a Sōtō Zen monk and teacher who, upon his arrival in 1959, helped popularize Zen Buddhism in the United States. He is renowned for founding both the San Francisco Zen Center and the first Zen Buddhist monastery outside Asia (Tassajara Zen Mountain Center) southeast of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.
Word of his teaching spread quickly, and he soon became a rallying point for many visual and literary artists living in the Bay Area during the late fifties and until his death in 1971. Arthur Okamura and many fellow members of artists and poets living in Bolinas during this time became fervent followers of Roshi, often expressing his lessons in their work.
Joanne Kyger interviewed in her Bolinas home:
"There was a real focus on the Zen of enlightenment, koan, all that stuff that was going in the late fifties. Some kind of open door to whatever it was supposed to be - realization. We were reading all those silly books of DT Suzuki and here was a guy who really showed us how to sit."
The one-hour-long documentary of spliced footage chronicles the life of Shunryū Suzuki Roshi, a Sōtō Zen monk and teacher who, upon his arrival in 1959, helped popularize Zen Buddhism in the United States. He is renowned for founding both the San Francisco Zen Center and the first Zen Buddhist monastery outside Asia (Tassajara Zen Mountain Center) southeast of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.
Word of his teaching spread quickly, and he soon became a rallying point for many visual and literary artists living in the Bay Area during the late fifties and until his death in 1971. Arthur Okamura and many fellow members of artists and poets living in Bolinas during this time became fervent followers of Roshi, often expressing his lessons in their work.
Joanne Kyger interviewed in her Bolinas home:
"There was a real focus on the Zen of enlightenment, koan, all that stuff that was going in the late fifties. Some kind of open door to whatever it was supposed to be - realization. We were reading all those silly books of DT Suzuki and here was a guy who really showed us how to sit."
