[Buddha-l] Lucian Stryke died

[Jo]

Just want to say that although I've heard of Lucien Stryk, I never got
around to reading anything by him. Jim's message here is touching...it
speaks eloquently of Stryk's involvement with Buddhism, while the Chicago
Trib's obit says nothing about it.  
So those of us who knew of him will be enriched by Jim's note. Now I realize
that one of these days I should read something by Stryk.
So thanks again, Jim, for posting. 

Joanna
----------------------


Lucien Stryk, 1924-2013
www.chicagotribune.com
"Zen Poet, outstanding teacher, dear friend. Amongst the most cherished
hours I have spent on this shaky planet were those I spent in the faculty
lounge at Northern Illinois University (NIU) talking with Lucien about life
in general and Zen in particular. I had taken up Buddhism in some form or
another some years before I went to NIU in 1969. I imagined myself a modern
analogue of a mediaeval Chinese student of Zen. I had done my reading
without any guidance from any living person who knew anything about
Buddhism, and I had sat zazen alone, preferably outdoors, and then
preferably in inclement weather for a long time. Within a few minutes of
meeting Lucian I felt as though the sun had broken through on a vast natural
scene. From then until I left Northern several years later, we would spend
several hours each week, sitting in the Faculty Lounge and talking about
philosophy and poetry in general, and Zen. Our discussions often attracted a
small group of students who, at first, found us by accident but who later
became regulars. About this time Anchor Press published his "World of the
Buddha: A Reader -- from the Three Baskets to Modern Zen", which became for
a time my complete library of Classical Buddhist texts, with translations
and commentary by Lucian.

Lucian published over 35 books -- most notably anthologies of translations
of historical Buddhist texts, translations of poetry (he was probably best
known as a translator of major modern Zen poets). His ruminations on life,
Buddhism, and Zen are sprinkled throughout his "works" and ae always tied
closely to original writings of Chinese and Japanese masters. 

Collections of his poems include Collected Poems, 1953-1983 (Swallow/Ohio
University Press, 1984), Bells of Lombardi (Northern Illinois University
Press, 1986), and the Penguin Book of Zen Poetry (Penguin 1977). He was also
editor of World of the Buddha: An Introduction to Buddhist Literature (Grove
Press, 1982) and Of Pen and Ink and Paper Scraps (Swallow/Ohio University
Press, 1989); a book of interviews, Encounter with Zen: Writings on Poetry
and Zen (Swallow/Ohio University Press, 1982); and many translations,
including On Love and Barley: Haiku of Basho (Penguin, 1985), Triumph of the
Sparrow: Zen Poems of Shinkichi Takahashi (University of Illinois press,
1986), and The Dumpling Field: Haiku of Issa (Swallow/Ohio University Press,
1991). With Takashi Ikemoyo he translated Zen Poems of China and Japan: the
Crane's Bill (Grove Press, 1981).


Jim Peavler
jmp at peavler.org

"The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe
in it."
	Neil deGrasse Tyson

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