I decided to visit my sister in Hawaii for the first time in ten years and was determined to visit the Diamond Sangha at the Palolo Valley Zen Temple while there. Roshi Aitken, 93, was living on the premises and I got to see him on Sunday, August 1, 2010. His attendant brought him to the zendo for the third and final sitting of the morning. After the sitting, he introduced and said a few words about a friend who was visiting from Maine. Although in a wheelchair, he seemed sharp and happy and his comments were witty. After the sitting, I stood in front of him and bowed with a gassho and said Thank You quietly.
The following Friday was First Friday in Honolulu, an event where artists set up booths in an effort to sell their works and to enliven the downtown after 5:00 PM. My sister took me there to meet her office mate at Leeward Community College; her office mate is a photographer who was one of the exhibitors. While chatting with her, I was introduced to two ladies who knew Roshi and one of them had been at the Palolo Valley Zen Temple the previous Sunday. They knew my sister’s friend, and had also been chatting with her. Small world!
One of them said to me: Did you know that Roshi died last night?
I had known of Roshi Aitken since the 1980s and had been a member of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, an organization he started, for many years. He and Roshi Kapleau were the first two American Zen masters from the Japanese lineage of Harada Roshi and Yasutani Roshi (the founders of the Sanbo Kyodan). So to finally meet Roshi Aitken face to face was a thrill. To learn that he had passed away just a few days later made me feel strange. The death of a 93 year old should come as no surprise, but…
If you ever go to Oahu, please be sure to visit the Palolo Zen Center. They have a three hour orientation one Saturday per month. I attended it on July 31; the teachers were Clark and Kathy Ratliffe, who had known my teacher, Lawson Sachter, when they were studying Zen with Roshi Kapleau at the Rochester Zen Center. They were married in Rochester by Bodhin, the current abbot of the RZC (and Lawson’s brother-in-law) and had been in Hawaii since 1984.
The passing of Roshi Aitken reminds us that everything comes to an end. He worked out his salvation with diligence. The rest of us can follow his example and do the same. Thank you, Roshi Aitken.
