Love, Rōshi

Robert Baker Aitken and His Distant Correspondents

Helen J. Baroni

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781438443782, 9781438443775
• eBook ISBN: 9781438443799
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Buddhism

Love, Roshi explores the relationship between Robert Baker Aitken (1917–2010), American Zen teacher and author, and his distant correspondents, individuals drawn to Zen teachings and practice through books. Aitken, founder of the Honolulu Diamond Sangha, promoted Zen to a wide audience in works such as Taking the Path of Zen and The Mind of Clover. Aitken's twentieth-century American Zen valued social justice and was compatible with work and family life. Helen J. Baroni makes use of Aitken's extensive correspondence preserved in an archive at the University of Hawaii to provide a window to view the beliefs and practices of the least-studied—and a difficult to study—segment of the Western Buddhist community, Buddhist sympathizers and solo practitioners. The book looks at the concerns of these correspondents, which included questions on meditation, dealing with isolation as a Buddhist, finding teachers and disillusion with teachers, and being a Buddhist in prison, among a myriad of other matters. The writers' letters reveal much about their notion of Zen and their image of a "Zen master." Coverage of Aitken's responses provides insight into the accommodation of solo practitioners and into the development of a particular strain of American Buddhism.

PART I

Distant Correspondents Write to the Rōshi

CHAPTER 2

Why People Write

When I was a classroom teacher I always felt there was more hope for the student who threw a piece of chalk at me when my back was turned than for the one who put his head down on his desk. That piece of chalk gave me a chance to do something, to say something. But what can one do if there is no response? In meeting with the rōshi, it is important that you speak up and show something.

—Robert Aitken, Taking the Path of Zen

Etiquette demands that, when writing a letter to a stranger, one explain one's purpose. The Distant Correspondents largely complied with this dictum, making it relatively easy to create an initial list of reasons why individuals wrote for later coding and analysis (see table 6). On closer reading, however, I found that many letters that began by saying, for example, that the person was writing to express his or her thanks to Aitken for writing Taking the Path of Zen, went on to do other things, such as ask for advice or request information. I therefore adopted the assumption that correspondents could have multiple purposes, and did not seek to prioritize their purposes or limit my analysis exclusively to the reasons that they self-identified. As a result, most letters fall under two or more categories in the table. Moreover, I assigned some letters to a category such as “Seeking encouragement,” which only a few writers made explicit, based on my reading of the letter.

For the majority of cases that involved one to three letters (80 percent of the study group), I included the reasons that I observed in all of the letters written by the correspondent. For long-term correspondents, I coded only the purposes expressed in the first few letters. After that, especially for correspondence that continued over several years, coding every letter was neither practical nor appropriate. Once the correspondent and Aitken had firmly established a relationship, whether student-teacher or friendship (and sometimes both), the nature of the exchanges changed, and later letters primarily serve to preserve the relationship.

Table 6. Reasons for Writing

Reason	No. Cases	Percentage
Comment on writing	114	44%
Ask advice	111	43%
Seek a teacher/sangha	86	33%
Information about HDS	51	20%
Want to join HDS	32	12%
Seek encouragement	21	8%
Counseling by mail	17	7%
Request interview	13	5%
Personal counseling	13	5%
Confirmation of an “experience”	12	5%
Information on rituals	11	4%
Challenge Aitken	10	4%
Request a place for retreat	6	2%

Three reasons that motivated Distant Correspondents to write to Aitken stand out: to express their gratitude or admiration for one or more of Aitken's published works (44 percent), to request advice of some kind (43 percent), or to request help in finding a teacher or sangha with whom to practice (33 percent). These topics will be taken up at some length, as well as some of the less common reasons, such as seeking confirmation of an enlightenment experience and writing to challenge the rōshi, topics that are of particular interest in understanding how Distant Correspondents perceive the role of the Zen teacher.

Expressing Gratitude or Admiration

A substantial number of Distant Correspondents, 114 individuals, expressed thanks or admiration for one or more of Aitken's published works. Distant Correspondents felt drawn to his words, and many said that they felt compelled to write because they were deeply moved or inspired by them. As mentioned in the introduction, Distant Correspondents found Aitken's most compelling themes to be his practical advice about the mechanics of seated meditation, his primary focus on zazen as the heart of the Zen tradition, and his insistence on ethical conduct and social engagement with issues of justice and peace as critical aspects of Zen practice.

I was struck that in many cases, by opening their letters with sincere words of gratitude, the Distant Correspondents sought to establish a kind of long-distance relationship with a Zen teacher, thus laying a basis for the requests for advice or information that so regularly followed. The letters thus serve as much more than simple fan mail, while often retaining something of that flavor. Indeed, I found only fifteen letters that were written exclusively to express gratitude or admiration, the exceptions that prove the rule, if you will.

In the early years of Aitken's teaching career, the period extending from the earliest such letter in 1968 to approximately 1982, when Taking the Path of Zen appeared in print, people wrote to Aitken primarily based on personal recommendations received from other Zen practitioners, information acquired while visiting the Hawaiian islands, and information shared at other Zen centers. The number of cases from this fifteen-year span is a modest forty-nine, and slightly more than half fall into the word-of-mouth category. Nevertheless, even in the early period, seven people wrote in response to his early essay “The Zen Buddhist Path of Self-realization,” published in John White's edited volume What Is Meditation.

Throughout the years, the most popular of Aitken's books remains Taking the Path of Zen. James ishmael Ford, in his recent guide to American Zen, notes that it became “a classic and seminal to many starting the Zen way.”¹ My research bears this out. More than one in four of the Distant Correspondents singled it out for mention, and not a few of these indicated that it served as the basic guide for their practice of meditation. One longtime British practitioner, an ordained Zen monk, wrote to Aitken that he found it to be “perhaps the best english language introduction to zazen I have seen.” Another man called it his “finger pointing to the moon,” and still a third said that he found answers there to questions he had grappled with for thirteen years, from the time he was twenty-three, and that the book “changed my life fundamentally.”

The Mind of Clover, Aitken's commentary on the Ten Grave Precepts, in which he discusses applying Zen ethics in the Western context, came in a distant second in popularity among the works cited by the Distant Correspondents. Only twenty-seven individuals mentioned this book. Nevertheless, several found it to be the most critical guide for their practice. The dean of a law school at a large state university, for example, wrote to Aitken:

I am writing just to thank you for all the help you've given me along the Buddhist path. I've read all of your books except the newest [Encouraging Words]. I keep your book of gathas by the bed and read selected ones to my husband at night (selected according to the kind of day we've had!) Mind of Clover is my favorite—I've read it twice. More than any other book I've read, it helps me apply the Buddha's teachings in my day to day interactions with people.

A musician from the Midwest wrote that “Taking the Path of Zen and Mind of Clover have been influential in resolving some of the problems and doubts I had with Zen Buddhism, especially as applied to life in the US…. I have been able to embrace the practice of Zen Buddhism whole-heartedly.”

A number of these Buddhist sympathizers and solo practitioners unilaterally accepted Aitken as their teacher based solely upon his printed words. While sixteen correspondents explicitly mentioned this, numerous others implied it by indicating that they used his works as their guide not only for meditation but the broader practice of Zen. The woman from Kauai indicated that when she read The Mind of Clover, she found in it “the voice of my inner teacher. I bow down to this teacher.” Not surprisingly, she later made direct contact with Aitken, became his student and an active member of HDS. A Colorado woman, who mentioned that her first introduction to Zen came in an english literature class at the University of Hawaii for which Aitken gave a guest lecture, wrote to him several years later after reading A Zen Wave and Taking the Path of Zen.

Perhaps I am like the duckling that, as soon as its eyes are open, follows the first thing it sees as ‘mother’—but much thought and considerable reading propels me in the direction of Maui and Koko An as spiritual ‘home.’ I am not of course talking about geography. In a sense, I feel I am already your student, in that your two books, and the few teisho tapes that I have been able to hear, have meant a great deal to me—have drawn me.

A female convert to islam, clearly seeking help in her spiritual quest, wrote from england to seek Aitken's advice. She began by saying she had read all of his books and, “There is no living person of whom I know that I would like to learn from as much as yourself.” An oncologist, preparing to move from New York to a practice in the rural South where he would no longer have access to a Zen teacher and community, wrote, “I have a strong affinity for your words in print. I hope to someday meet you and thank you for your teaching and patience…. With great respect to my rōshi, my teacher, I wish you health and long life.”

Requesting Advice about Meditation

A total of 111 Distant Correspondents explicitly requested advice from Aitken Rōshi. In order to gain a better understanding of the needs that they brought to their written interaction with him, I broke down the category of Requesting Advice into several subcategories (see table 7). Once again, those who asked for advice often asked for more than one kind of advice, and I coded them accordingly. It should be noted that I excluded from this category all requests for help in finding a teacher or sangha, however the request was phrased.

Table 7. Types of Advice Sought

Related to:	No. Cases	Percentage of 111
Zazen specifically	43	39%
Other aspect of practice	23	21%
Living Buddhist life	20	18%
“Counseling by mail”	17	15%
Personal counseling	13	13%
Practice in Japan	8	7%
Suggestions for reading	7	6%
Writing and translation	3	3%
Not specific	11	10%

Distant Correspondents most commonly sought advice related to the practice of zazen. This is no surprise, given the nature of Aitken's writings. The category includes a wide variety of issues, and a few of the more typical examples will have to suffice. It can be noted, however, that many of these requests were quite vague, especially those coming from beginners and the self-taught. Many correspondents indicated that they practiced as best they could on their own, and now needed the guidance of a teacher. A high school student, in the first of several letters written over a five-year period, formally requested permission from Aitken as his teacher to begin meditating based on Taking the Path of Zen. Aitken encouraged him to do so, reiterating advice found in the book.

A high school english teacher who had been sitting daily for eight weeks described an experience of “happy-warm-silence without thoughts or ego intrusions” achieved during meditation. He asked whether Aitken thought he was ready to begin with Mu, the first kōan given to Zen students within Aitken's tradition. Again, Aitken responded positively to the correspondent's reported progress; he assured the man that he should regard his experience as a breakthrough and a milestone in his practice. “I have no objection to your starting on Mu.” Aitken then clarified that it was time to consider attending sesshin somewhere, supplying three specific options, including information about two mainland Zen centers as well as HDS. It was not at all unusual for Aitken to make the determination that an individual was ready to begin kōan practice, coupled with advice about working with a teacher. He regularly recommended teachers who were geographically closer to the correspondent with the understanding that few people could afford regular trips to Hawaii.

A correspondent who first wrote while still affiliated with one of Kapleau's groups reported that he was then sitting for four hours per day, counting his breath, but was having difficulty controlling his mind. Because his group practiced without a resident teacher, he had no one to consult with his concerns. He asked, “May I begin a koan? May I write to you again?” Aitken declined to give permission to another teacher's student to undertake kōan work, but nevertheless responded to his implicit question related to zazen. “You do not gain control of your thoughts by forcing. It is not possible to block thoughts. Those thoughts are you, so when you try to stop them, the battle will be between you and yourself…. Never mind the thoughts—just let them go by.”

Some individuals wrote for advice and reassurance when they experienced makyō, unusual physical sensations or intense mental images that may arise during zazen. For example, an engineering student who managed to attend one orientation weekend at Maui Zendo described the physical sensations she had since experienced that worried her: sharp jerks, the sensation of heat, sometimes nausea and spinning. She asked, “Should I continue with my breath counting?” Aitken responded in a reassuring letter, “Your zazen sounds fine. It is natural that you go through certain makyō experiences. Please continue with your breath counting right through these experiences. Regard them simply as the context of your practice.” Even longtime practitioners, including those still working with another teacher, sometimes asked Aitken for technical advice when they experienced special problems. One detailed example will suffice.

A female member of SFZC with eight years of meditation experience wrote for assistance with a problem she had been having for about a year: Whenever she sat down to meditate, her whole body would begin to shake violently. She indicated that the problem seemed to arise directly from the practice, and not to be emotional or medical in origin. She described her struggle to maintain regular practice, and her desire to continue daily sitting. She admitted that problems at SFZC made it difficult to get the guidance she needed from her teachers there. Her letter is dated 1983, the year that Baker Rōshi's sexual misconduct became public knowledge, and a time of great upheaval and internal strife within the SFZC community. Aitken's response is long and detailed. He called her problem a “dark night of the soul,” an important phase of the true religious path. He recommended that she continue sitting as best she could, with frequent consultation with a trusted teacher. Even one sesshin with such a teacher could bring her to the other side. He suggested that she try different postures for meditation, Burmese style, or even a chair or lying down. “You are in process, so your posture doesn't matter that much.” He suggested that she experiment with using a focus, such as breath counting, but admitted that he could not recommend this as a firm suggestion because they were not working face to face. He closed his reply with a warm invitation to come to Hawaii for a sesshin.

Seeking Advice for Living a Buddhist Life

Beginning with The Mind of Clover, Aitken's writings often address ethical issues and the manner in which Zen practitioners should conduct their lives in a Western context. Distant Correspondents therefore wrote to him about their concerns in these matters. While a few of them asked about engagement in the ecological movement or antinuclear/antiwar movements, more often correspondents enquired about the benefits of...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Preliminary Matters
• Part I: Distant Correspondents Write to the Rōshi
• Part II: The Rōshi Responds
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography