Robert Aitken (Japanologist)

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Robert Aitken around 2008

Robert Baker Dairyu Chotan Aitken Rōshi (born June 19, 1917 in Philadelphia , USA , † August 5, 2010 in Honolulu , Hawaii ) was an American literary scholar , peace activist and Zen teacher . In Germany he is primarily known for his practical instructions Zen as a life practice and as the teacher of Rolf Drosten (founder of the "Cloud and Moon Sangha" Leverkusen).

Life

Robert Aitken was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1917. When he was five, the family moved to Hawaii. Through an acquaintance who wanted to promote Aitken's literary talent, he became aware of Asian literature and developed an interest in haikus in particular . During the turmoil of World War II, Aitken was taken prisoner as a civilian by Japan. The prison guards noticed his interest in haiku poetry, and when in 1942 the book Zen in English Literature from Reginald Horace Blyth appeared she borrowed a copy Aitken. In 1944 the Kobe prison camps were amalgamated, and Aitken met HR Blyth, who was also interned and became his first teacher of Zen.

After his return to the USA, Aitken enrolled at the University of California for English literature and in 1947 became a student of Senzaki Nyogen , who was one of the first Japanese to make Zen known in the West. In the following years Aitken commuted often between the USA and Japan and practiced zazen under different teachers, u. a. Soen Nakagawa, Eido Shimano , Hakuun Yasutani, Katsuki Sekida and Yamada Koun.

He later studied Japanese philology in California and Japanese literature at the University of Hawaii . Aitken and his first wife became estranged during a one-year scholarship stay in Japan from 1949 to 1950. The couple separated in 1952, son Thomas (* 1950) initially stayed with his mother. In 1957 Aitken married for the second time, namely Anne Hopkins (1911-1994), the assistant director of the Happy Valley School in Ojai, where Aitken was employed at the time. The couple moved to Hawaii so Aitken could have contact with his son Thomas. From 1959 a group was established there that practiced zazen together under the direction of Robert Aitken. As the group grew, Aitken founded the Zendo Koko-An , named after the nearby Koko-Head crater, but Koko-An in Japanese means "the little temple right here". The Diamond Head crater summit, which is also visible from this location , gave its name to the Diamond Sangha community , which alludes to the Diamond Sutra .

In 1969, the Aitken couple moved to Maui and founded the Maui Zendo there. For Robert Aitken, who campaigned for the rights of women, homosexuals and the Hawaiian indigenous population, he and Anne were completely equal in leading the community and receiving further education in regular trips to Japan. In 1974 Aitken received the license to teach from Yamada Koun and in 1985 the Dharma transmission and thus the title Rōshi , but preferred to continue to appear as a layman and not as an ordained Zen priest.

Aitken was also known as a peace activist who positioned himself against nuclear tests in the 1940s, publicly criticized the Vietnam War as well as the nuclear arms race between the US and the USSR and was among the first to draw attention to the need for an ecological perspective. Together with Anne Hopkins Aitken, Gary Snyder and others, he founded the Buddhist Peace Fellowship as the political arm of a non-violent, ecological movement that campaigns against dictatorial oppression and for disarmament.

Robert Baker Aitken died of pneumonia on August 5, 2010 in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii.

Dharma heirs

In the course of his teaching, Robert Aitken Rōshi appointed a number of Dharma successors :

  1. Alcalde, Augusto Nyo'ei Gen'un
  2. Barzaghi, Subhana, Gyo Shin, Myo-Un-An
  3. Bobrow, Joseph
  4. Bolleter, Ross
  5. Henry, Michael Danan
  6. Dawson, Geoff
  7. Drosten, Rolf
  8. Duffy, Jack Kenzan Kan'un Ken
  9. Foster, Nelson
  10. Hawk, Pat Seisho Shin'un
  11. Gyger, Pia Jinji
  12. Morgan, Marian
  13. Steger, Manfred B.
  14. Tarrant, John Nanryu Ji'un-ken

Works

The following works by Aitken Roshi are available in bookshops in Germany (as of summer 2018):

  • Zen as a life practice . Diederich's Yellow Series, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-424-00928-8 .
  • Zen Master Rabe: Fabulous Zen Stories . Theseus-Verlag, Bielefeld 2003, ISBN 3-89620-211-1
  • Zen ethics . Diederich's Yellow Series, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-424-00929-6
  • Ways of Wisdom: The Path of Zen . Weltbild-Verlag, Augsburg 2002 (co-author: Gary Snyder)
  • The spiritual way. Zen Buddhism and Christianity in Daily Life . Droemer-Knaur, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-426-86117-8 (co-author: David Steindl-Rast).

Web links

Commons : Robert Baker Aitken  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Clouds and Moon Sangha
  2. ↑ Robert Aitken: Zen as a life practice . From the American by Christian Quatmann. 5th edition. Eugen Diederichs Verlag, Munich, 1995, ISBN 3-424-00928-8 , pp. 159-178
  3. ^ Buddhist Peace Fellowship
personal data
SURNAME Aitken, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aitken, Robert Baker
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American literary scholar, peace activist and Zen teacher of the Sanbo Kyodan lineage
DATE OF BIRTH June 19, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia
DATE OF DEATH August 5, 2010
Place of death Honolulu