Joko Beck
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherTemplate:Wikidata imageScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Compare Template:Zen Buddhism Template:Western Buddhism Charlotte Joko Beck (March 27, 1917 – June 15, 2011[1]) was an American Zen teacher and the author of the books Everyday Zen: Love and Work and Nothing Special: Living Zen.[2]
Biography
Born in New Jersey, Beck studied music at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and worked for some time as a pianist and piano teacher. She married and raised a family of four children, then separated from her husband and worked as a teacher, secretary, and assistant in a university department. She began Zen practice in her 40s with Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi in Los Angeles,[3] and later with Hakuun Yasutani and Soen Nakagawa.[3] Beck received Dharma transmission from Taizan Maezumi Roshi in 1978,[3] but broke with Maezumi over his actions and opened Zen Center San Diego in 1983,[3] serving as its head teacher until July 2006.[4]
Beck was responsible for a number of important innovations in Zen teaching. Because she was adept at teaching students to work with their psychological states, she attracted a number of students who were interested in the relationship between Zen and modern psychology. Several of her Dharma heirs are practicing psychologists/psychiatrists.[5] In 1995 Joko, along with three of her Dharma heirs, founded the Ordinary Mind Zen School.
Shortly after Beck’s departure in 2006, she revoked Dharma transmission from two senior students: Ezra Bayda and Elizabeth Hamilton. Beck also stated that Zen Center San Diego should not claim to represent her or her teaching.[6][5][7] In 2006 Joko moved to Prescott, Arizona, where she continued to teach until she retired as a teacher in late 2010. In the spring of 2010, Joko announced Gary Nafstad as her last Dharma successor.[6][5]
Beck died on June 15, 2011, at age 94.[1]
Lineage
Joko Beck appointed nine teachers:[8]
- Christensen, Larry Jissan
- Christenson, Anna
- Dawson, Geoff
- Howard, Gregg
- Magid, Barry (b. 1949)
- Nafstad, Gary (b. 1949)
- Penn, Barbara Muso (d. 2023)
- Smith, Elihu Genmyo (b. 1948)
- Rizzetto, Diane Eshin (b. 1942)
From two other teachers she later sought to revoke her appointment:[9]
- Bayda, Ezra (b. 1944) (revoked 2006)
- Hamilton, Elizabeth (b. 1942) (revoked 2006)
Books
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See also
References
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Further reading
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External links
- Wilkefilm documentary on Joko Beck (2001)
- Upaya Newsletter for 6/20/2011
- YouTube channel for Joko Beck's teaching (accessed March 9, 2024)
- Pages with script errors
- 1917 births
- 2011 deaths
- Oberlin College alumni
- Zen Buddhism writers
- Zen Buddhist spiritual teachers
- American Zen Buddhists
- American Buddhist nuns
- 20th-century American nuns
- 20th-century Buddhist nuns
- 21st-century Buddhist nuns
- 21st-century American nuns
- 21st-century American women
- 20th-century American Buddhists
- 21st-century American Buddhists