Biography
As the 20th anniversary of Katagiri Roshi's death was approaching, Andrea Martin was wondering how to honor the occasion in some meaningful way. Finally she realized that as his archivist she could preserve not just what he taught, but also information about him as a Zen teacher. So she embarked on a quest to pull together whatever information she could find and write a narrative account of his life.
Katagiri Roshi often told stories about his life to illustrate points in his talks, so there was some autobiographical information to draw on. There were also resources such as articles about him, references in books written by his students, Minnesota Zen Meditation Center files, and peoples' memories. Using what she discovered, Martin wrote the essay "Ceaseless Effort: The Life of Dainin Katagiri," which is available here as a downloadable file.
"Ceaseless Effort" is not an official biography. It is simply the result of Martin's wish to honor her teacher and preserve his story for those who want to know about the human being behind his books and audio recordings, the teaching lineage before and after him, and the history of Zen in America.
Katagiri Roshi often told stories about his life to illustrate points in his talks, so there was some autobiographical information to draw on. There were also resources such as articles about him, references in books written by his students, Minnesota Zen Meditation Center files, and peoples' memories. Using what she discovered, Martin wrote the essay "Ceaseless Effort: The Life of Dainin Katagiri," which is available here as a downloadable file.
"Ceaseless Effort" is not an official biography. It is simply the result of Martin's wish to honor her teacher and preserve his story for those who want to know about the human being behind his books and audio recordings, the teaching lineage before and after him, and the history of Zen in America.
