Who Did He Meet?

In the 40th chapter of The Transmission of Light, there is a question.

The student says, “If I had not met you, I would have wasted my whole life reading scripture.”¹

Who is it that the student is speaking to?

1 Cook, F. (trans. and introduction) (1991). The Record of Transmitting the Light: Zen Master Keizan’s Denkoroku. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications

This talk appears in the upcoming book, Digging in the Earth to Find the Blue Sky.

Roshi Robert E. Kennedy, S.J., is the founding teacher of Morning Star Zendo. He is a Jesuit priest, Zen master, psychoanalyst and professor emeritus of theology. He is one of the few surviving masters who brought Zen to the West from Japan, and one of several practicing Catholics who are recognized by the Buddhist community as Zen teachers. He is active in interfaith work, teaching Zen to persons of all faiths and none and conducting retreats in the United States, Mexico, Ireland and England. Roshi Kennedy studied Zen with the Japanese master Yamada Roshi, with Maezumi Roshi in Los Angeles and Bernie Glassman Roshi in New York in the Zen Peacemaker Order; in 1997 he received inka from Glassman Roshi. He is the author of Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit (Bloomsbury, 1995, 2020) and Zen Gifts to Christians (Continuum, 2004). The film Are We One, directed by Dónal Ó Céilleachair, traces the transmission of Zen through Roshi Kennedy’s life’s work (2024). Jesus and Buddha: Practicing Across Traditions, directed by John Ankele for Old Dog Documentaries Inc. (2012), features Roshi Kennedy, Christian/Buddhist scholar Paul Knitter and Eco-theologian/Dharma Teacher Hyun Kyung Chung.