Joshu Sasaki Roshi Dead: Leading Zen Buddhist Teacher Dies At 107
Antonia Blumberg
Joshu Sasaki Roshi, a leading Zen Buddhist teacher, and founder of Mount Baldy Zen Center, died on Sunday July 27 at the age of 107, the Los Angeles Times reports. Sasaki died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, reportedly from complications associated with old age.
Originally from rural Japan, Sasaki spent most of the last 50 years in Los Angeles where he established Rinzai-Ji, an urban meditation temple, as well as Mount Baldy Zen Center. He also founded the Bodhi Manda Zen Center outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Many credit Sasaki as being among the foremost teachers to bring Zen Buddhism to the West, and he reportedly once promised his students he wouldn't die “until Zen is born in America."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/29/joshu-sasaki-roshi-dead-dies_n_5630284.html?utm_hp_ref=religion