Memorial Day 2025

Thirty-five years have passed since Katagiri Roshi's death on March 1, 1990. To honor the day, I'm posting this heartfelt message from Shohaku Okumura Roshi, which he wrote for a special memorial event held at Ryumonji and Hokyoji in 2022:
 
I first met Katagiri Roshi when he and his family visited Antaiji in 1972, which was right before they moved to Minneapolis. I saw him again a few years later when he visited the Boston Shambhala Center while I was practicing at Pioneer Valley Zendo in Massachusetts. That was just after MZMC bought the land for Hokyoji. After these two brief encounters, I had the chance to deeply practice with him for one month [in 1988] when he led the Tokubetsu sesshin for western Soto Zen teachers at Daijo-ji in Kanazawa, Japan. It was hearing his lectures on Shobogenzo Kuge during that sesshin that gave me the confidence to carry out my teacher’s request for me to teach the Shobogenzo in English. Until that time, I was very uncertain that I would ever have the ability to do such a thing. Seeing him impressed me deeply. Without this experience with Katagiri Roshi, I would never have had the chance to move to Minneapolis and continue to work in the USA. I also do not think I would have ever started my work translating the Shobogenzo and teaching it in English.
I am deeply grateful for the connection I had with Katagiri roshi, and the connection I continue to have with many of his disciples that I met during that time. Although he has been gone for 33 years, his life and teaching continue to live with us today as strongly as ever.
Gassho,
Shohaku Okumura