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Charlotte Joko Beck died on 15th

SattvaPaulSattvaPaul South Wales, UK Veteran
edited June 2011 in Buddhism Today
http://sweepingzen.com/2011/06/15/charlotte-joko-beck-dies-at-94-
american-zen-pioneer/

Comments

  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran
    Thats too bad, I think her book "Nothing Special, Living Zen" was the first book I ever read on Buddhism.
  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    Well, that's the first I heard of it.

    A unique and wise voice. I have her book around here somewhere.
  • auraaura Veteran
    For so many centuries women were silenced and excluded by men laying claim to the exclusivity of their own much less than selfless enlightenment.
    After so many centuries at last the wisdom and life experience of a woman was allowed to shine forth... and shine it did!
    and so we contemplated the wisdom and the teachings of Charlotte Joko Beck.

    We now contemplate the great loss of Joko Beck. Only now do we fully begin to appreciate the staggering magnitude of the loss of those centuries of women who had been silenced and excluded.
  • SattvaPaulSattvaPaul South Wales, UK Veteran
    edited June 2011
    @aura,

    Are you implying that Joko was the first who was "allowed" to "shine forth" after centuries of patriarchal oppression?

    Joko was not a feminist, and I find your comment a little disturbing.
  • andyZandyZ
    @sattvapaul
    Thank you for posting this. Joko was one of the pioneering teachers, very unique, who helped to shape what we call American Zen today.
  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    @aura,

    Are you implying that Joko was the first who was "allowed" to "shine forth" after centuries of patriarchal oppression?

    Joko was not a feminist, and I find your comment a little disturbing.
    Where are all the women Masters?

    I'm not a woman, but even I noticed it when I studied the Sutras and history of Buddhism.
  • SattvaPaulSattvaPaul South Wales, UK Veteran


    Where are all the women Masters?

    I'm not a woman, but even I noticed it when I studied the Sutras and history of Buddhism.
    Yes they are not at the forefront for sure, but they are there, if you look. Anyway, I don't want to get into discussion about Buddhism and "patriarchy". I was responding to what I perceived as an emotional and one-sided comment by @aura.

    Let's keep to the original topic.
  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    edited June 2011
    Agreed.

    One of the adjustments the Zen missionaries from Japan and Korea had to make when they came over to the West was the inclusion of women in the Zazen hall and Teacher-Student relationship. To their credit, most adjusted and welcomed this, and Beck was an example of the early acceptance of women as Dharma Transmitters. She would probably have shrugged her shoulders and said, "Men, women, no difference!" And that's the way it should be.

    The eulogies from the people who knew her were heart warming.
  • SattvaPaulSattvaPaul South Wales, UK Veteran
    I've known Joko Beck only through her books but they helped my practice enormously. She de-emphasised special experiences and returned the students back to the "nitty-gritty" of life, where the true practice takes place. I'm grateful for her teachings.
  • LostieLostie Veteran
    My condolences. Her 'Everyday Zen' book is a gem read.
  • auraaura Veteran
    @aura,
    Are you implying that Joko was the first who was "allowed" to "shine forth" after centuries of patriarchal oppression?
    Joko was not a feminist, and I find your comment a little disturbing.
    Joko Beck was a mother, a practitioner, and a Buddhist master.
    The fact that she had directly experienced the conception, birth, and the raising of human beings to adulthood gave Joko Beck a great and unique clarity on the realities of the human condition and the practice and teaching of Buddhism. She reached a very great number of people exactly because she knew how to communicate with them in very human terms that they could relate to and easily understand. She had a great deal of light to her and that light shone forth in her transmission of the Dharma for the betterment of this world.
    Her loss is a great loss indeed for this sorry suffering world.

    I read her obituary in the news. I feel great gratitude for the life and gifts of Joko Beck and I mourn her loss.
    I read the sorry news of today's newspaper, like the sorry news of every day's newspaper, and it occurs to me to wonder how many other potential Joko Becks this sorry suffering warring world might have known and learned from as teachers and masters if women had not been so shunned and silenced over the centuries, and what a difference they too might have made.
    And I am all the more grateful for the life and the gifts of Joko Beck.



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