Zen Studies Society

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Zen Studies Society

American lay organization for the study of traditional Zen meditation inspired by the presence of D. T. Suzuki in New York City in 1956. Upon the death of its founder Clifton Cane in 1962, it became inactive for a few years but was reactivated when some of the students met Eido Tai Shimano, a Zen master who agreed to move to New York and lead the work. Emphasis in the reorganized society shifted from study to practice, and branches soon developed in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

Associated with the society is the Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongoji, in the Catskill Mountains, that is open to lay people for full-time Zen practice with daily meditation, study, work, and community life. The society publishes The Newsletter of the Zen Studies Society, a semi-annual newsletter and writings of Shimano. The society can be contacted at HCR 1 Box 171, Livingston Manor, NY 12758-9402. Website: http://www.zenstudies.org/.

Sources:

Shimano, Eido. Golden Wind. Tokyo: Japan Publications, 1979.

Shimano, Eido, ed. Like a Dream, Like a Fantasy. Tokyo: Japan Publications, 1978.

The Zen Studies Society. http://www.zenstudies.org/. March 8, 2000.