The Zen Eye: A Collection of Zen Talks
New York City · 1993
S
Sokei-an (Shigetsu Sasaki)
Sokei-an (Shigetsu Sasaki)
1882 CE–1945 CE · Modern · New York City
March 10, 1882 – May 17, 1945
Sokei-an (Shigetsu Sasaki, 1882–1945) was a Japanese Rinzai teacher who founded one of the earliest Zen organizations in the United States. After first arriving in America in 1906 with his teacher Sōkatsu Shaku and receiving authorization to teach in 1924, he established the Buddhist Society of America—now the First Zen Institute of America—in New York City in 1930. He was among the first Japanese masters to live and teach Zen in America. Interned briefly during World War II, he died in 1945 shortly after marrying Ruth Fuller Everett (later Ruth Fuller Sasaki).
Life journeyclick any stop, or use ←/→Trace on the map →
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Stop 1 of 1Visited
New York CityUnited States
What they did here
DOCUMENTED: in 1930 founded the Buddhist Society of America (now the First Zen Institute of America), one of the earliest Zen institutions in the U.S.
About New York City
New York City, in the United States. In the 20th century its theological institutions—notably Union Theological Seminary—hosted figures such as Paul Tillich and Reinhold Niebuhr and visitors including Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Orthodox theologian Georges Florovsky.
In New York City at the same time
B. R. Ambedkar, Alan Watts, Pema Chödrön, Robert Thurman, Jon Kabat-Zinn
Across the traditions, in New York City at the same time
In the same place & time
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Sages whose lives overlapped with Sokei-an (Shigetsu Sasaki)’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
In the same tradition
B. R. Ambedkar, Alan Watts, Pema Chödrön, Robert Thurman, Jon Kabat-Zinn
The world in their lifetime
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Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Sokei-an (Shigetsu Sasaki)’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.