Robert Aitken is a retired master of the
Diamond Sangha,
a Zen Buddhist society he founded in Honolulu in 1959 with his
late wife
Anne Hopkins Aitken.
A lifetime resident of Hawai‘i, Aitken Rōshi
is a graduate of the University of Hawai‘i with a BA degree in English
literature and an MA degree in Japanese studies. In 1941, he was captured
on Guam by invading Japanese forces, and interned in Japan for the duration
of World War II. In the camp, he met the British scholar
R. H. Blyth
, who introduced him to Zen Buddhism. After the war, he practiced
Zen with
Senzaki Nyogen
Sensei in Los Angeles, and traveled frequently
to Japan to practice in monasteries and lay centers with
Nakagawa Sōen
Rōshi,
Yasutani Haku'un
Rōshi, and
Yamada Kōun
Rōshi. In 1974, he was given approval
to teach by the Yamada Rōshi, Abbot of the
Sanbo Kyodan
in Kamakura, Japan,
who gave him transmission as an independent master in 1985.
Aitken Rōshi is the author of more than ten
books on Zen Buddhism
, and co-author of a book-length
Buddhist-Christian dialogue
. In Hawai‘i he was instrumental in founding
the Koko An Zendo, the
Pālolo Zen Center,
the Maui Zendo, and the Garden
Island Sangha. A number of
other centers
in Europe, North and South America,
and Australasia are part of the Diamond Sangha network.
Aitken Rōshi is co-founder of the
Buddhist
Peace Fellowship
(now with a local East Hawai‘i Chapter)
and serves on its international board of advisors.
He has been active in a number of peace, social justice, and ecological
movements, and his writing reflects his concern that Buddhists be engaged
in social applications of their experience.
Aitken Rōshi has given full transmission as
independent masters to
Nelson Foster,
Honolulu Diamond Sangha
and Ring of Bone Zendo
in Nevada City, California;
John Tarrant
,
Pacific Zen Institute
in Santa Rosa, California;
Patrick Hawk,
Zen Desert Sangha
in Tucson, Arizona, and
Mountain Cloud Zen Center
in Santa Fe, New Mexico;
Joseph Bobrow,
Harbor Sangha in San Francisco, California;
Jack Duffy
, Three Treasures Sangha
in Seattle, Washington; Augusto Alcalde, Vimalakirti Sangha,
in Cordoba, Argentina and
Rolf Drosten,
Wolken-und-Mond-Sangha (Clouds and Moon Sangha)
, in Leverkusen, Germany. He authorized
Pia Gyger,
One Ground Zendo in Luzern, Switzerland, as an affiliate teacher of the Diamond Sangha.
He joined with John Tarrant in giving transmission as independent masters
to
Subhana Barzaghi
in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; and to
Ross Bolleter
in Perth, Western
Australia.
As a retired master, Aitken Rōshi works with
a few long-time students, and continues to study and write. His work,
Zen Master Raven: Sayings and Doings of a Wise Bird,
was published by Tuttle in 2002
[review].
His more recent publications,
The Morning Star: New and Selected Zen Writings,
and a new edition of
A Zen Wave: Basho's Haiku and Zen,
were released in October, 2003, by Shoemaker and Hoard. In 2006, He collaborated with
Daniel W.Y. Kwok
and published Vegetable Roots Discourse: Wisdom from Ming China on Life and Living.
pau!
