Kyozan Joshu Sasaki

Kyozan Joshu SasakiKyozan Joshu Sasaki, Roshi (born April 1, 1907) is a Japanese Rinzai Zen teacher who has lived in the United States since 1962. Joshu Sasaki is the founder and head abbot of the Mt. Baldy Zen Center, near Mount Baldy in California, and of the Rinza-Ji order of affiliated Zen centers. As of November, 2005, he is still actively teaching at the age of 98. Joshu Sasaki regularly offers formal training sessions at both the Mount Baldy Zen Center and the Bodhi Manda Zen Center, occasionally offering sesshin at the Rinzai-Ji Zen Center in Los Angeles. Roshi’s teaching schedule greatly depends on his health, however.

As a young monk, Joshu Sasaki had followed his teacher, Joten Soko Miura, to Myoshin-ji, the head temple of one of the largest branches of Rinzai. Having been awarded the title of roshi in 1948, he took the position of an abbot at Yotoku-in. In 1962, Joshu decided to travel across the Pacific Ocean to teach students in the West. He has been one of the most influential teachers of Zen students in the USA and Europe, and some of his students have gone on to become Zen teachers themseves.

buddha monk

buddha monk