{"product_id":"9781438443782","title":"Love, Rōshi : Robert Baker Aitken and His Distant Correspondents","description":"\u003cp\u003eRobert Baker Aitken's correspondence with Buddhist sympathizers and solo practitioners reveals a significant, little-understood aspect of American Buddhism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLove, Roshi explores the relationship between Robert Baker Aitken (1917-2010), American Zen teacher and author, and his distant correspondents, individuals drawn to Zen teachings and practice through books. Aitken, founder of the Honolulu Diamond Sangha, promoted Zen to a wide audience in works such as Taking the Path of Zen and The Mind of Clover. Aitken's twentieth-century American Zen valued social justice and was compatible with work and family life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHelen J. Baroni makes use of Aitken's extensive correspondence preserved in an archive at the University of Hawaii to provide a window to view the beliefs and practices of the least-studied-and a difficult to study-segment of the Western Buddhist community, Buddhist sympathizers and solo practitioners. The book looks at the concerns of these correspondents, which included questions on meditation, dealing with isolation as a Buddhist, finding teachers and disillusion with teachers, and being a Buddhist in prison, among a myriad of other matters. The writers' letters reveal much about their notion of Zen and their image of a \"Zen master.\" Coverage of Aitken's responses provides insight into the accommodation of solo practitioners and into the development of a particular strain of American Buddhism.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"State University of New York Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49498140475619,"sku":"00000_00000_00000_00000","price":36.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0764\/3758\/6147\/files\/9781438443782-1.jpg?v=1788384249","url":"https:\/\/usa.kinokuniya.com\/products\/9781438443782","provider":"Books Kinokuniya USA","version":"1.0","type":"link"}