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John Daido Loori

Born c. 1931
Flag of the United States Jersey City, New Jersey, USA
Title Roshi
Religious beliefs Zen Buddhism
Website
www.mro.org/
www.johndaidoloori.org/

John Daido Loori (b. 1931) is a Soto Zen priest, abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery (ZMM), a Dharma Successor of the late Taizan Maezumi-roshi, and founder of the Mountains and Rivers Order (MRO). He is also a published author, photographer and ex-corporate executive.

Contents

[edit] Biography

John Daido Loori was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1931 to a working-class Catholic family. It was in his hometown that his interests in photography, science and nature first took shape. He started his hobby as photographer when he found a Brownie camera and Zeiss Ikon in his home, using his family's bathroom as a darkroom.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Monmouth College.

Starting in 1947, he served four years in the U.S. Navy.

He was director of religious education at a Unitarian church located in Middletown, New Jersey.

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[edit] Zen study

Before training with Taizan Maezumi-roshi, Loori had studied Zen with other teachers such as Soen Nakagawa-roshi and Eido Tai Shimano-roshi beginning in 1968. He met Maezumi in 1976 while offering a workshop on photography at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, following Maezumi back to Los Angeles, California to study Zen under him. He left Los Angeles for New York City in 1979 to found a Zen center with a fellow student of Maezumi's—Bernard Glassman. In 1980 he moved to Woodstock, New York and opened Zen Mountain Monastery in the Catskill Mountains, purchasing the acreage with a small amount of startup money. Despite never having received inka, Loori received denkai from Maezumi in 1983 and shiho from him in 1986. That following year he traveled to Japan to perform the Zuise ceremony, and was then installed as Abbott of Zen Mountain Monastery in 1989.[1][2]


In 1994 the Soto School of Japan gave Loori Dendokyoshi certification—making him an official representative of the Soto School working outside Japan.

[edit] Photography

Loori says that he enjoys the spontaneity of photography, the intuitive response within to a subject. In 2004 Dharma Communications published his photography in Hearing with the Eye: Photographs from Point Lobos—a book that features photographs of nature, accompanied by commentaries by Loori on Teachings of the Insentient by Eihei Dogen. That year photos from the book were also displayed at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, New York.


Mr. Loori said 1971 workshop with Minor White helped him see an image's full range of tones and colors and to express visually his essence in his photographs. White brought us into a different way of experiencing a photograph, he said. My work shifted to a more abstract, impressionistic way of seeing nature.

[edit] Bibliography

  • The Eight Gates of Zen: Spiritual Training in an American Zen Monastery. (1992). Dharma Communications.
  • Two Arrows Meeting in Mid-Air: The Zen Koan, et al. (1994). Tuttle Publishing.
  • The Still Point: A Beginner's Guide to Zen Meditation. (1996). Dharma Communications.
  • Zen Mountain Monastery Liturgy Manual. (1998). Dharma Communications.
  • Teachings of the Insentient: Zen and the Environment. (1999). Dharma Communications.
  • Celebrating Everyday Life: Zen Home Liturgy. (1999). Dharma Communications.
  • Zen Pebbles, Zen Pearls: Five Introductory Books on Zen Practice. (1999). Dharma Communications.
  • Path of Enlightenment: Stages in a Spiritual Journey. (1999). Dharma Communications.
  • Cave of Tigers: Modern Zen Encounters. (2000). Weatherhill.
  • Making Love With Light: Contemplating Nature With Words and Photographs. (2001). Dharma Communications.
  • The Heart of Being: Moral and Ethical Teachings of Zen Buddhism, et al. (1996) Tuttle Publishing.
  • The Eight Gates of Zen: A Program of Zen Learning. (2002). Shambhala Publications.
  • Riding the Ox Home: Stages on the Path of Enlightenment. (2002). Shambhala Publications.
  • The Art of Just Sitting. (2002). Wisdom Publications.
  • Hearing with the Eye: Photographs from Point Lobos. (2004). Dharma Communications.
  • The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Three Hundred Koans. (2005). Shambhala Publications.
  • The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating Your Artistic Life. (2005). Ballantine Books.
  • Sitting With Koans: Essential Writings on Zen Koan Introspection. (2006). Wisdom Publications.
  • Invoking Reality: Moral and Ethical Teachings of Zen. (2007). Shambhala Publications.
  • Teachings of the Earth: Zen and the Environment. (2007). Shambhala Publications.
  • Bringing the Sacred to Life: The Daily Practice of Zen Ritual. (2008). Shambhala Publications.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Ford, James Ishmael (2006). Zen Master Who?: A Guide to the People and Stories of Zen. Wisdom Publications, pp. 168, 169. ISBN 0861715098. 
  2. ^ a b Prebish, Charles S. (1999). Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America. University of California Press, pp. 98, 99, 103. ISBN 0520216970. 
  3. ^ Hicks, Robert (2004-12-05). ARTS; Smile, Buddha. New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-01-12.

[edit] Further reading

  • Buddhism and Ecology: The Interconnection of Dharma and Deeds by Mary Evelyn Tucker, Duncan Rynuken Williams

[edit] External links