[Buddha-l] John Daido Loori Roshi obit

[JKirkpatrick]

 Dan et al.,

Sorry to reply so late, but I do have a remembrance of Daido
Roshi, and it is very appropriate in this context.

I think the first time I saw Daido Roshi (at that time just
Sensei) was at Maezumi Roshi's memorial in 1995. Not the big
public one downtown, but the more intimate one in the back garden
at Zen Center of Los Angeles. Naturally there was a whole parade
of dharma heirs who passed by Maezumi's ashes and spoke to the
crowd. The one who made me cry was Daido. The memorial had begun
with rituals and speeches by Soto teachers/family from Japan. It
was Daido Roshi who made the transition from that formal Japanese
ritual to an emotional American ritual. He had been at the
official funeral in Japan and, as his tears began to well up, he
remarked how he was surprised there were still more that needed
to come out. His openness allowed the rest of us to cry as well.

Farewell!
================
Frantz, what a good thing to know. One can easily get the
impression from here and there in the texts that allowing one's
emotions to overwhelm one is discouraged. The Japanese tradition
isn't so bothered by this kind of anality. Many of the famous Zen
master poets speak of shedding tears on various occasions. They
also wrote poetic expressions of joy. One likes to think that
their guiding practice was equanimity, to which they returned
when the agony or the ecstasy was over. 

Best, Joanna