Robert Aitken Roshi
"Everything just as it is,
as it is, as is.
Flowers in bloom.
Nothing to add."
Robert Baker Aitken, poet, peace activist, environmentalist and Zen priest, died yesterday at the age of 93. He began studying Buddhism under interesting circumstances, while he was held in a Japanese internment camp during World War II.
He was someone I knew about mainly because his works were quoted by others, but a person whose life spread its effect very widely, like a butterfly whose beating wings might cause a great storm on the other side of the world.
"Watching gardeners label their plants
I vow with all beings
to practice the old horticulture
and let plants identify me."
as it is, as is.
Flowers in bloom.
Nothing to add."
Robert Baker Aitken, poet, peace activist, environmentalist and Zen priest, died yesterday at the age of 93. He began studying Buddhism under interesting circumstances, while he was held in a Japanese internment camp during World War II.
He was someone I knew about mainly because his works were quoted by others, but a person whose life spread its effect very widely, like a butterfly whose beating wings might cause a great storm on the other side of the world.
"Watching gardeners label their plants
I vow with all beings
to practice the old horticulture
and let plants identify me."