PHILIP KAPLEAU

'Philip Kapleau' (1912 - 2004) was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and became a teacher of Zen Buddhism in the Harada-Yasutani tradition, a blending of Japanese Soto and Rinzai schools. These distinctions are primarily ones of form, since adepts in all schools of Zen aspire to complete enlightenment, known in Sanskrit as "anuttara samyak sambodhi."

Contents

Early life

Zen training

Work and teaching

Rochester Zen Center

Selected works

See Also

Early life

Kapleau was born on August 20, 1912, in New Haven, Connecticut. As a teenager he worked as a bookkeeper. He briefly studied law and later became an accomplished court reporter. In 1945 he served as chief Allied court reporter for the "Trial of the Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribunal," which judged the leaders of Nazi Germany. This was the first of the series commonly known as the Nuremberg Trials. Kapleau later covered the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, commonly known as the Tokyo War Crimes Trials. While in Japan he became intrigued by and drawn to Zen Buddhism. Specifically, he attended a number of informal lectures given by D.T. Suzuki in Kita Kamakura. After returning to America, he renewed his acquaintance with D.T. Suzuki who had left Kita Kamakura to lecture on Zen at Columbia University. But disaffected with a primarily intellectual treatment of Zen, he moved to Japan in 1953 to seek Zen's deeper truth.

Zen training

He trained briefly with Soen Nakagawa (1907-1984), then rigorously with Daiun Harada (1871-1961), at Hosshin-ji. Later he became a disciple of Haku'un Yasutani (1885-1973), himself a dharma heir of Harada. After 13 years' training, Kapleau was ordained by Yasutani in 1965 and given permission to teach. Yet, he sometimes eschewed the moniker "teacher," preferring to see himself as a fellow student of the Way. In more subtle moments, he would even resist the label of "being" a Buddhist, in the spirit of Heraclitus: "Nothing is; everything becomes."

Work and teaching

Kapleau transcribed other Zen teachers' talks, interviewed lay students and monks, and recorded the practical details of Zen Buddhist practice. His book, ''The Three Pillars of Zen'', was published in 1965, has been translated into 12 languages, and is still in print. It was one of the first English-language books to present Zen Buddhism not as philosophy, but as a pragmatic and salutary way of training and living.

Rochester Zen Center

During a book tour in 1965 he was invited to teach meditation at a small gathering in Rochester, New York. In 1966 he left Japan to create the Rochester Zen Center. In doing so, he became the first American to found and teach at a Zen training center.
For almost 40 years, Kapleau taught at the Center and in many other settings around the world, and provided dharma transmission to several disciples of both genders. He also introduced many modifications to the Japanese Zen tradition, such as chanting the Heart Sutra in the vernacular, English for example in the U.S., or Polish at the Center he founded in Katowice. He often emphasized that Zen Buddhism adapted so readily to new cultures especially because it was not dependent upon a dogmatic external form. At the same time he recognized that it was not always easy to discern the form from the essence, and one had to be careful not to "throw the baby out with the bathwater."
Kapleau was an articulate and passionate writer. His emphasis in writing and teaching was that insight and enlightenment are available to anyone, not just austere and isolated Zen monks. Also well-known for his views on vegetarianism, peace and compassion, he remains widely read, and is a notable influence on Zen Buddhism as it is practiced in the West. Today, his dharma heirs, descendants and former students teach at Zen Centers around the world.
He lived with Parkinson’s Disease for several years, and while his physical mobility was reduced, he enjoyed lively and trenchant interactions with a steady stream of visitors throughout his life. On May 62004, he died peacefully in the backyard of the Rochester Zen Center, surrounded by many of his closest disciples and friends.

Selected works

★ "Awakening to Zen" (New York: Scribner, 1997) ISBN 0-684-82973-8

★ "Straight to the Heart of Zen" (Boston: Shambhala, 2001) ISBN 1-57062-593-X

★ "The Three Pillars of Zen" (New York: Anchor Books, 2000) ISBN 0-385-26093-8
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★ (French) "Questions zen" (Paris: Threshold/Points Wisdoms, 1979) ISBN 2-02-014596-0
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★ (German) "Die drei Pfeiler des Zen. Lehre, Ãœbung, Erleuchtung" (Frankfurt am Main: O. W. Barth, 2002) ISBN 3-502-64355-5
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★ (Italian) "I Tre Pilastri dello Zen: Insegnamento pratica e illuminazione" (Roma: Ubaldini Editore, 1981)
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★ (Spanish) "Los Tres Pilares Del Zen. Enseñanza Práctica Iluminación" (Mexico: Pax-Mexico, 2005) ISBN 968-860-707-X
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★ (English Audio) Phoenix Audio, 1995: Downloadable: or (Abridged length: 2 hours & 51 min)

★ "The Wheel of Death" (London: George Allen & Unwin LTD, 1972) ISBN 0-04-294074-5

★ "The Wheel of Death" (New York: Harper & Row, 1974) ISBN 0-06-090377-5

★ "The Zen of Living and Dying: A Practical and Spiritual Guide" (Boston: Shambhala, 1998) ISBN 1-57062-198-5
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★ (German) "Das Zen-Buch vom Leben und vom Sterben. Ein spiritueller Ratgeber" (Frankfurt am Main: O. W. Barth, 2001) ISBN 3-502-61057-6
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★ (Chinese) [Chinese Title Unknown) (Twin Moon, 1998) ISBN 957-98414-8-9
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★ (Portuguese) "Roda da Vida e da Morte: Guia Prático e Espiritual, A" (Cultrix, 1993) ISBN 85-316-0423-0
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★ (English Audio) (Audio Literature, 1998) ISBN 1-57453-057-7

★ "To Cherish All Life: A Buddhist Case for Vegetarianism" (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1982) ISBN 0-940306-00-X
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★ (Spanish) "El Respeto a la Vida" (Troquel Editorial, 2000) ISBN 950-16-0239-7

★ "Zen: Dawn in the West" (New York: Anchor Press, 1979) ISBN 0-385-14273-0
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★ (Italian) "La nascita dello zen in Occidente" (Astrolabio: Roma, 1982)

★ "Zen Keys" by Thich Nhat Hanh, 19-page Introduction by Kapleau (New York: Doubleday, 1974) ISBN 0-385-47561-6
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★ (German) “Schluessel zum Zen. Der Weg zu einem achtsamen Leben” (Herder, Freiberg, 2000) ISBN 3-451-04570-2

★ "Zen: Merging of East and West" (New York: Anchor Books, 1989) ISBN 0-385-26104-7

★ "Zen Teaching, Zen Practice," edited by Kenneth Kraft, a festschrift honoring Kapleau (New York: Weatherhill, 2000) ISBN 0-8348-0440-9

See Also

Toni Packer