Synopses & Reviews
Mitsu Suzuki is the widow of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, the Zen monk who founded the San Francisco Zen Center and helped popularize Zen Buddhism in the United States. A White Tea Bowl is a selection of her poems, written after her return to Japan in 1993. These 100 haiku were chosen by editor Kazuaki Tanahashi and translated by Zen teacher Kate McCandless to celebrate Mitsu's 100th birthday on April 27, 2014. The introduction by Zen poet and priest Norman Fischer describes with loving detail a meeting with Mitsu at Rinso-in temple in 2010, considers the formative impact of war in Japan and social upheaval in America on her life, and places her poetry in the evolution of haiku as an international form.
About the Author
Mitsu Suzuki is the widow of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, founder of San Francisco Zen Center. After he passed away in 1971, she remained at Zen Center where she taught tea ceremony and began writing poetry. Her first collection of haiku,
Temple Dust, was published in 1992. The 100 haiku selected for
A White Tea Bowl were written after her return to Japan in 1993. She will be 100 years old on April 27, 2014.
Kate McCandless is a Zen teacher at Mountain Rain Zen Community, Vancouver, Canada. She studied Japanese language and poetry at the University of British Columbia and Tsukuba University, Japan. Based in Vancouver, Kate works as a counselor in hospice and bereavement care.
Norman Fischer is a poet, priest, and a former abbot of San Francisco Zen Center. He is founder and teacher of the Everyday Zen Foundation, dedicated to sharing Zen teaching and practice widely with the world. He lives in Muir Beach, CA.
Kazuaki Tanahashi is a Zen teacher, a translator, and an artist renowned for his works of calligraphy. Based in Berkeley, CA, his numerous books include Enlightenment Unfolds, Brush Mind, and Sky Above, Great Wind: The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan.
Table of Contents
Introduction by Norman Fischer
Preface by Kate McCandless
Part I: 100 Haikus
Zen Temple
Zen Garden
Monks
Tea Ceremony
Late Husband
Family
Friends
Children
Nature
Human Affairs
Alone
Life
Practice
Part II: Pickles and Tea
Reb Anderson
Victoria Austin
Ed Brown
Peter Coyote
Yvonne Rand
Paul Rosenblum
Mary Waston
Glossary