Sokei-an

Sokei-an (1895–1945), born Shigetsu Sasaki, was a Japanese Rinzai Zen master who taught in New York and founded the First Zen Institute of America.

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Ruth Fuller Sasaki: An American Buddhist practitioner and scholar who helped establish Zen institutions in Japan and the United States. She married Sokei-an and sustained his institute after his death.
Rinzai school: A Japanese school of Zen Buddhism known for koan practice and disciplined meditation. Sokei-an inherited this lineage and taught its practices in the United States.
Zen in the United States: The development of Zen Buddhist communities, teaching, and practice in the United States. Sokei-an’s New York institute was among its early institutional beginnings.
Sanbo Kyodan: A Japanese Zen lineage founded in the twentieth century that combines elements of the Soto and Rinzai traditions. Its later transnational teaching network differed from Sokei-an’s small New York institute.
D. T. Suzuki: A Japanese scholar of Zen Buddhism whose English-language books introduced Zen to many Western readers. His public influence offers a contrast to Sokei-an’s direct teaching in New York.
Japanese Zen: The forms of Zen Buddhism that developed in Japan through distinct schools and institutions. His American teaching emerged from this wider religious and cultural setting.
Buddhism in the United States: The history and practice of Buddhist traditions in the United States. His work formed one strand in the wider American Buddhist history.
Soto school: A Japanese school of Zen Buddhism that emphasizes seated meditation as practice and realization. Its emphasis provides a useful contrast with the Rinzai lineage Sokei-an taught.
Alan Watts: A British-American writer who interpreted Asian religions for Western audiences. His later popular writings show another route by which Zen reached American audiences.
Koan: A question, story, or exchange used in Zen training to unsettle habitual reasoning and prompt insight. Koan practice was central to the Rinzai tradition he transmitted.