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DOGEN ZEN
AND ITS RELEVANCE
FOR OUR TIME
Symposium
Stanford University
October 23-24, 1999
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| Saturday,
October 23, 1999 |
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Tetsuo Otani |
Otani Tetsuo was born in Tokyo in 1939. He graduated from the
Department of Far Eastern Philosophy in the Faculty of Literature
at Waseda University. He received his master's degree from Waseda
University graduate school in the Research Institute for Humanities,
majoring in Far Eastern Philosophy. Otani graduated from the
doctoral program at Komazawa University Graduate School, Research
Institute for Humanistic Studies, majoring in Buddhist Studies.
He practiced at Daihonzan Eiheiji in 1965. He has been resident
priest of Chotaiji in Tokyo since 1966. He has been teaching
at Komazawa University since 1977 and is now a professor in the
Department of Buddhist Studies. He is presently serving as the
Vice President of Komazawa University. His specialty is Zen Studies
and Soto Zen Studies.
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| Carl Bielefeldt |
Carl
Bielefeldt began Zen practice under Suzuki Shunryu Roshi at Sokoji
and went on to study with Uchiyama Kosho Roshi at Antaiji in
Kyoto. He graduated in Buddhist Studies from the University of
California, Berkeley, and currently teaches at Stanford, where
he is the co-director of the Center for Buddhist Studies.
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| Zenkei Blanche Hartman |
Zenkei
Blanche Hartman began sitting in 1969 at the Berkeley Zen Center
with Rev. Sojun Mel Weitsman and in San Francisco with Suzuki
Shunryu Roshi. She was ordained priest in 1977 by Rev. Zentatsu
Baker and received dharma transmission with Rev. Sojun Mel Weitsman
in 1988. She became Abbess of San Francisco Zen Center in February
of 1996. She is married to Shuun Lou Hartman; they have four
children and five grandchildren.
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| Shohaku Okumura |
Shohaku
Okumura was born in Osaka Japan in 1948. He was ordained as a
Soto Zen priest under Uchiyama Kosho Roshi in 1970 and trained
at Antaiji, Kyoto, Japan. He practiced at Pioneer Valley Zendo
in Massachusetts from 1975 to 1981. He taught at Kyoto Soto Zen
Center from 1984 to 1992 and Minnesota Zen Meditation Center
from 1993 to 1997. Currently he is the Director of the Soto Zen
Education Center and Head Teacher of Sanshin Zen Community. He
has been working on translations of Soto Zen texts and has among
his publications "Shobogenzo Zuimonki", "Dogen
Zen", "Zen Teachings of 'Homeless' Kodo", "Shikantaza:
An Introduction to Zazen", "Wholehearted Way",
and "Opening the Hand of Thought".
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| Daido John Lori |
Daido John Loori is abbot of Zen Mountain
Monastery (Doshinji) in Mt. Tremper, New York. He began his Zen
practice in 1968 and trained in the subtle teachings of Dogen's
Zen and the koan introspection of Rinzai Zen. He received Shiho
from Maezumi Hakuryu Roshi and Inka from Rev. Genpo Merzel. He
is the author of 12 books on Zen and is currently translating
with Tanahashi Kazuaki, Dogen's 300 Koan Shobogenzo and adding
commentary and verse.
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| Sunday,
Octorber 24, 1999 |
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Griffith Foulk |
Griffith Foulk teaches Asian religious at Sarah Lawrence College.
He holds a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Michigan,
where he also taught from 1985-1995. He has trained in both Soto
and Rinzai monasteries in Japan and received shukke tokudo (priest
ordination) in the Soto School in 1983. He is a member of the
board of the Kuroda Institute for the Study of Buddhism and Human
Values and was elected to the steering committee of the Buddhism
Section of the American Academy of Religion from 1987-94. He
has received a Fulbright, Eiheiji, and Japan Foundation fellowships,
and grants from the American Council of Learned Societies and
National Endowment for the Humanities. His research and publications
focus on philosophical, literary, social, and historical aspects
of the Ch'an Myths and Realities in Medieval Chinese Buddhism
and Histories of Zen.
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| Yasuaki Nara |
Yasuaki
Nara studied in the Department of Indian Philosophy and Sanskrit
Literature, Faculty of Letters, at Tokyo University receiving
a B.A. degree in 1953 and M.A. in 1956. From 1956 to 1958, Nara
studied in the Department of Comparative Philosophy at Calcutta
University in India. He received a Doctor of Literature from
Tokyo University in 1973. Nara has been lecturing at Komazawa
University in History of Buddhist Culture since 1961. From 1983
to 1986, he was Vice President of Komazawa University and served
as President from 1994 to 1998. He has been a visiting Professor
at Vishva Bharati University in India from 1982 to 1983. Some
of his publications (in Japanese) have been, "History of
Buddhism: India and South-east Asia", "Ramakrishna",
"Dialogue with Sakyamuni Buddha", "Buddha's Way
and Man-Spiritual Approach".
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| Sojun Mel Weitsman |
Sojun
Mel Weitsman began practice at the old Sokoji Temple in San Francisco
in 1964 with Suzuki Shunryu Roshi. He received priest ordination
from Suzuki Roshi in 1969 at Berkeley Zendo, which he founded
in 1967 with Suzuki Roshi's blessing. He was shuso at Tassajara
in 1970 with Tatsugami Roshi and Director of Tassajara in 1972-1973.
In 1984, he received dharma transmission from Suzuki Roshi's
son Rev. Suzuki Hoitsu. In 1985, he was installed as Abbot of
Berkeley Zen Center. In 1988 he was installed as Co-abbot of
San Francisco Zen Center; his tenure ended in January 1997; he
is currently a Senior Dharma Teacher.
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| Hozan Alan Senauke |
Hozan
Alan Senauke has been Director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship
since 1991. He also serves on the Executive Committee of the
International Network of Engaged Buddhists, where he works closely
with lay and ordained Buddhist activists from Asia, Europe, and
the United States. Alan is a Soto Zen priest in the family of
Suzuki Shunryu Roshi, having received priest ordination from
Sojun Mel Weitsman Roshi in September of 1998. He lives with
his wife, Laurie, and their two young children at the Berkeley
Zen Center in California. In another realm, Seanuke has been
well known as a student and performer of American traditional
music for more than thirty-five years.
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| Gary Snyder |
Gary Snyder has published seventeen books
of poetry and prose including his Pulitzer Prize-winning book,
"Turtle Island" in 1975 and "No Nature" which
was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1992. Currently,
as professor of English at the University of California at Davis,
he has been instrumental in starting the "Nature and Culture"
program. In the late 1950's, Snyder along with Allen Ginsberg
and Jack Kerouac started the Beat Generation movement. In the
1960's, he studied in a Zen monastery in Japan which powerfully
influenced his thought. Snyder is a founding member of the Ring
of Bone Zendo in the Sierra Nevadas and was awarded the Buddhism
Transmission Award for 1998 by the Japan-based Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai
Foundation. He is the first American literary figure to receive
the award, being honored for distinctive contributions in linking
Zen thought and respect for the natural world across a lifelong
body of poetry and prose. His latest book is called "Mountains
and Rivers Without End".
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