Robert Baker Dairyu Chotan Aitken

Rōshi (Japanese: "old teacher"; "old master") is a title in Zen Buddhism with different usages depending on sect and country. In Rinzai Zen, the term is reserved only for individuals who have received ''inka shōmei'', meaning they have completed th ...

(June 19, 1917 – August 5, 2010) was a

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

teacher in the

Harada-Yasutani is a lay Zen sect derived from both the Soto (Caodong) and the Rinzai ( Linji) traditions. It was renamed Sanbo-Zen International in 2014. The term ''Sanbo Kyodan'' has often been used to refer to the Harada-Yasutani zen lineage. However, a n ...

lineage. He co-founded the Honolulu Diamond Sangha in 1959 together with his wife,

Anne Hopkins Aitken Anne Arundel Hopkins Aitken (February 8, 1911 – June 13, 1994) was an American Zen Buddhism, Zen Buddhist, in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. She co-founded the Honolulu Diamond Sangha in 1959 together with her husband, Robert Baker Aitken. She ...

. Aitken received

Dharma transmission In Chan Buddhism, Chan and Zen Buddhism, dharma transmission is a custom in which a person is established as a "successor in an unbroken Lineage (Buddhism), lineage of teachers and disciples, a spiritual 'bloodline' (''kechimyaku'') theoretica ...

from

Koun Yamada , or Koun Yamada, was a Japanese Buddhist who was the leader of the Sanbo Kyodan lineage of Zen Buddhism, the Dharma heir of his teacher Yasutani Haku'un Ryoko. Yamada was appointed the leader of the Sanbo Kyodan in 1967, 1970 or 1973 and cont ...

in 1985 but decided to live as a

layperson Laypeople or laypersons may refer to: * Someone who is not an expert in a particular field of study ** Lay judge *** Lay judges in Japan * Laity, members of a church who are not clergy ** Lay brother ** Lay sister ** Lay preacher ** Lay apostolat ...

. He was a socialist advocating

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

for

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...

and

Native Hawaiians Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii ...

throughout his life, and was one of the original founders of the

Buddhist Peace Fellowship The Buddhist Peace Fellowship (BPF) is a nonsectarian international network of engaged Buddhists participating in various forms of non-violent social activism and environmentalism. The non-profit BPF is an affiliate of the international Fellowship ...

Biography

Robert Baker Aitken and Anne Hopkins Aitken

Robert Aitken or Bob, as he liked to be called, was born to

Robert Thomas Aitken Robert Thomas Aitken (June 13, 1890 – June 22, 1977) was an American anthropologist known for his work in Oceania while at the Bishop Museum in Hawaiʻi. Biography Born in Livermore, California, in 1890, Aitken was raised and educated wi ...

and Gladys Page Baker in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in 1917. He was raised in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

from the age of five. He was the son of a war enthusiast and was a rebel and loner in the 1930s and 40s before the war. Living in

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

as a civilian working in construction—at the onset of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

—he was detained by the Japanese and held in

internment camps Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...

for the duration of the war. A guard at one of the internment camps let him borrow a copy of R.H. Blyth's book
Zen in English Literature and the Oriental Classics
'' In one of his books later on in his life, he described being so invested in the book that he managed to be joyful even in the terrible conditions. In another internment camp in

Kobe, Japan Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, which ...

in 1944 he met its author,

Reginald Horace Blyth Reginald Horace Blyth (3 December 1898–28 October 1964) was an English writer and devotee of Japanese culture. He is most famous for his writings on Zen and on haiku poetry. Early life Blyth was born in Essex, England, the son of a railway c ...

, with whom he had frequent discussions on

Zen Buddhism Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

and

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessa ...

. At the conclusion of the war he returned to Hawaii and obtained a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in English literature and an MA in Japanese from the

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

. He would write for two hours each morning and even read aloud his work to make sure it was his distinctive style. In the late 1940s, while going to classes briefly at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

, he met

Nyogen Senzaki Nyogen Senzaki (千崎如幻, 1876–1958) was a Rinzai Zen monk who was one of the 20th century's leading proponents of Zen Buddhism in the United States. Early life Details of Senzaki's early life are unclear. Town records in Fukaura, Aomor ...

. Originally in California hoping for an encounter with

Krishnamurti is a South Indian name. It has several spelling variants. Variants The following is a non-exhaustive list. Some spellings separate the name elements , e.g. . Etymology and usage Derived from the Hindu deity Krishna and the Sanskrit term murt ...

, he began to study with Senzaki in Los Angeles. It was during this period that his commitment to leftist social issues - such as

pacifism Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

and

labor rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, these rights influen ...

– became more vocal. As a result of his advocacy, he was investigated during this period by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

. Because he was against the war in Vietnam and against the arming the military, he decided to not pay his percent of taxes that went to the Defense Department of the U.S. In 1950 he went back to Japan, under a grant to study

haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...

and followed Senzaki's recommendation that he study Zen there. There he took part in his first

sesshin A ''sesshin'' (接心, or also 摂心/攝心 literally "touching the heart-mind") is a period of intensive meditation (zazen) in a Zen monastery. While the daily routine in the monastery requires the monks to meditate several hours a day, duri ...

Engaku-ji , or Engaku-ji (円覚寺), is one of the most important Zen Buddhist temple complexes in Japan and is ranked second among Kamakura's Five Mountains. It is situated in the city of Kamakura, in Kanagawa Prefecture to the south of Tokyo. Founded ...

, a temple in

Kamakura, Japan is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kama ...

. Soon after, he met Nakagawa Soen, who persuaded him to come for a stay at Ryutakuji for the next seven months. During this period Soen took over for the ailing abbot of the temple, Yamamoto Gempo. Aitken then came down with a case of dysentery, and returned home to Hawaii. He married his second wife Anne Hopkins in 1957 and made occasional trips back to Japan. In 1957 Aitken met

Hakuun Yasutani was a Sōtō rōshi, the founder of the Sanbo Kyodan organization of Japanese Zen. Biography Ryōkō Yasutani (安谷量衡) was born in Japan in Shizuoka Prefecture. His family was very poor, and therefore he was adopted by another family. ...

and sat with him for the first time. In 1959 he and Anne began a meditation group in Honolulu at their residence, which became known as the Koko-an zendo. The community that gathered at this zendo were then named the Diamond Sangha by the two. The Diamond Sangha has affiliate zen centers in South America, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Europe and is known for making the rigors of traditional Zen accessible to lay practitioners. In 1960 Soen Nakagawa Roshi asked young monk Eido Tai Shimano to travel to Honolulu to assist at the Diamond Sangha center. In 1961, Aitken made an extended stay in Japan to study under

Haku'un Yasutani was a Sōtō rōshi, the founder of the Sanbo Kyodan organization of Japanese Zen. Biography Ryōkō Yasutani (安谷量衡) was born in Japan in Shizuoka Prefecture. His family was very poor, and therefore he was adopted by another family ...

, eventually ending his studies with Soen. He then worked in various capacities at the

East-West Center East West (or East and West) may refer to: *East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture Arts and entertainment Books, journals and magazines *'' East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...

and the

until 1969, when he and Anne moved to

Maui, Hawaii The island of Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th largest island in the United S ...

to found the Maui Zendo in Haiku-Pauwela. Koun Yamada Rōshi was invited to lead the Diamond Sangha and he moved to Hawaii in 1971. In 1974 Aitken was given permission to teach by

, receiving full

from him in 1985. He also was a major inspiration for the ‘System Stinks’ movement, where they drew inspiration from his famous photograph protesting with a sign. In the picture the sign said 'The System Stinks' and was in protest of the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

, while in his wheelchair. The photo was taken in Hawaii. Robert Aitken was a social activist through much of his adult life, beginning with protesting against

nuclear testing Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detonations are affected by ...

during the 1940s. He was an outspoken critic of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, and became a strong opponent of the

nuclear arms race The nuclear arms race was an arms race competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies during the Cold War. During this same period, in addition to the American and Soviet nuc ...

between the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. He was among the earlier proponents of

deep ecology Deep ecology is an environmental philosophy that promotes the inherent worth of all living beings regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs, and the restructuring of modern human societies in accordance with such ideas. Deep ecolo ...

in religious

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and was outspoken in his beliefs on the equality of men and women. In 1978 Aitken helped found the

, an organization that advocates

conflict resolution Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of conflict and retribution. Committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively communicating information abou ...

globally. In the discussion that led to the founding of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, most of the other people had less experience than him when it came to political activism. This gave him the most influence on what the organization should be about. Many of the first 100 people who were sent invitations to join were recommendations from Robert Aitken. He was also the guest speaker at the first two institutes that the Buddhist Peace Fellowship held. He did have anarchist beliefs, which is why even when he helped found the organization, he didn't take any control due to distrusting all authority or control even when it was his own. Aitken Roshi died after a brief bout with pneumonia on August 5, 2010 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was working on his fourteenth book before his passing. He retired in 1996 and spent some of his final years in

Palolo, Hawaii Pālolo is the name of a valley, stream, and residential neighborhood in Honolulu, Hawaii, the United States. The area lies approximately four miles east and inland from downtown Honolulu, less than a mile from Diamond Head. Like many of Hawai ...

where he could be looked after and interact with some of his students.

Bibliography

*''Zen Training. A Personal Account''; Honolulu: Old Island Books (1960). *''A Buddhist Reader''; Honolulu:

Young Buddhist Association The Young Buddhist Association (YBA) is an auxiliary lay group of the Buddhist Churches of America, the mainland U.S. branch of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. Founded in 1974 and originally known as the "Young Men's Buddhist Association" (YMBA, which was m ...

(1961). *''Hawaii Upward Bound Writing and Art 1966''; A Project of the Office of Economic Opportunity. Robert Aitken, Editor (1966). *''A Zen Wave: Basho's Haiku and Zen''; New York:

Weatherhill Shambhala Publications is an independent publishing company based in Boulder, Colorado. According to the company, it specializes in "books that present creative and conscious ways of transforming the individual, the society, and the planet". Man ...

(1978). *''Taking the Path of Zen''; San Francisco:

North Point Press North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

(1982). . *''The Mind of Clover: Essays in Zen Buddhist Ethics''; San Francisco: North Point Press (1984). . *''The Gateless Barrier: The Wu-menkuan (Mumonkan)''; San Francisco: North Point Press (1990). . *''The Dragon who Never Sleeps: Verses for Zen Buddhist Practice''; Berkeley: Parallax Press (1992). . *''Encouraging Words: Zen Buddhist Teachings for Western Students''; San Francisco and New York:

Pantheon Books Pantheon Books is an American book publishing imprint with editorial independence. It is part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.Random House, Inc. Datamonitor Company Profiles Authority: Retrieved 6/20/2007, from EBSCO Host Business Source ...

(1993). . *''The Ground We Share: Everyday Practice. Buddhist and Christian'' with

David Steindl-Rast David Steindl-Rast OSB (born July 12, 1926) is an American Catholic Benedictine monk, author, and lecturer. He is committed to interfaith dialogue and has dealt with the interaction between spirituality and science. Life and career Steindl-Rast ...

; Ligouri, Missouri:

Triumph Books Triumph Books is a Chicago-based sports book publisher. The company is well known for its "instant books", such as its illustrated tribute to NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, which was released 10 days after his death in a crash in the 2001 Daytona ...

, (1994). . *''The Practice of Perfection: The Paramitas from a Zen Buddhist Perspective''; San Francisco and New York: Pantheon Books (1994). . *''Original Dwelling Place: Zen Buddhist Essays''; Washington, DC:

Counterpoint Press Counterpoint LLC was a publishing company distributed by Perseus Books Group launched in 2007. It was formed from the consolidation of three presses: Perseus' Counterpoint Press, Avalon Publishing Group's Shoemaker & Hoard and the independent ...

(1996). . *''Zen Master Raven: Sayings and Doings of a Wise Bird''; Boston:

Tuttle Publishing Tuttle Publishing, originally the Charles E. Tuttle Company, is a book publishing company that includes Tuttle, Periplus Editions, and Journey Editions.

(2002). *A Zen Master: Counterpoint 2008 ISBN 978-1-58243-536-7 *

Footnotes

References

External links

*
Robert Aitken's blog

* ttp://www.diamondsangha.org/ Honolulu Diamond Sangha
Buddhist Peace Fellowship
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aitken, Robert Baker 1917 births 2010 deaths American anti-war activists American pacifists American prisoners of war in World War II American Buddhists American scholars of Buddhism American spiritual writers American Zen Buddhist spiritual teachers Buddhist pacifists Converts to Buddhism Deaths from pneumonia in Hawaii Engaged Buddhists English-language haiku poets Non-interventionism People from Honolulu Sanbo Kyodan Buddhists University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Hawaiʻi alumni University of Hawaiʻi faculty World War II civilian prisoners held by Japan World War II prisoners of war held by Japan Writers from Philadelphia Zen Buddhism writers

Biography

Bibliography

See also

Footnotes

References

External links