Holding the Lotus to the Rock: The Autobiography of Sokei-an, America's First Zen Master

Overview

Sokei-an Sasaki (1882-1945), in many respects, was the original Dharma Bum: a sculptor, poet, Zen student, and journalist, whose favorite subject was America. He arrived in San Francisco in 1906 with the mission of bringing Zen to America. After his teacher returned to Japan in 1910, he wandered alone through the American West and lived a wild bohemian life in the Greenwich Village of the Roaring ‘20s. His accounts of his childhood in Meiji, Japan, his struggle to transform himself through Zen, his experiences teaching Zen to New Yorkers — which led to the founding of the First Zen Institute of America — his run-in with the FBI, and his internment on Ellis Island are all conveyed with charm and humor in this autobiography of one of the great pioneers who introduced Zen Buddhism to America. Photos are included.