Shunryu Suzuki

Suzuki is the author and main character of the book. He was born in Japan in 1904 in the Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. His father was in charge of the Zen temple in his village. When he was 12 years old, he decided to study with Gyoku-jun So-on. He spent many years with his main teacher. During this time, he studied briefly with a Rinzai teacher. Rinzai is another branch of Zen Buddhism. He studied at Komazawa University and also studied at both of the main temples of Soto Zen, Eiheiji Monastery and Sojiji Monastery. While at Eiheiji, he studied with Kishizawa Ian, a scholar of Dogen. At 30 years old both his father and his teacher had died. He was in charge of both their temples. More significantly, his teacher’s temple, Rinsoin, was responsible for 200 other temples. His teacher had left him the task of rebuilding...