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Denkyo Kyozan Joshu Sasaki, Roshi
Establishing Rinzai-ji
The intensity of Roshi's teaching has never wavered since he first arrived
in California more than 40 years ago on a mission to bring Zen to Americans.
As Roshi has brought his teaching to thousands of students, a sizeable
network of training centers and urban Zen organizations has grown up to
facilitate practice and preserve the tradition he represents. Ironically,
when he came to these shores Roshi did not expect to build a large organization.
"I had thought of having five or six students who really lived
the life of Zen and that would be it," he said in an interview last
year. "I would die in America. I had no plan to create temples or
centers."
In July 1967, Roshi decided to commemorate his fifth anniversary in the
U.S. by conducting his first seven-day Dai-sesshin in the mountain village
of Idyllwild, California. In January 1968 Rinzai Zen Dojo Association changed
its name to Rinzai-ji, Inc., and purchased its first property, Cimarron
Zen Center at 2505 Cimarron Street, Los Angeles.
A complex of buildings surrounded by high walls, Cimarron Zen Center
needed extensive renovation before it was formally dedicated on April
21,1968.
Roshi took up residence there along with a group of students. Cimarron
Zen Center now is known as Rinzai-ji and is the main temple of the Rinzai-ji
organization. It features also a dormitory, Gentei-an, which allows for
residential Zen practice.
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