Geri Larkin

Last updated

Geri Larkin
TitlePriest
Personal
Born
Geraldine Ann Kapp

1950 (age 7273)
Lafayette, ID, USA
Religion Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism
Children2
School Seon
Senior posting
Teacher Samu Sunim

P'arang Geri Larkin, born Geraldine Kapp Willis, is founder and former head teacher of Still Point Zen Buddhist Temple, a Korean Chogye center in Detroit, Michigan. [1] The name Geri Larkin is a pen name. She graduated from Barnard College in 1973. [2] Larkin, daughter of a wealthy IBM executive, left her successful business life as a management consultant to enter a Buddhist seminary for three years, where she was ordained. When she left she sold her material possessions and bought a brick duplex in downtown Detroit which, with the help of local residents she cleaned up and turned into Still Point. Larkin's articulation of the concept of "right livelihood" was highly influential on Ann Perrault and Jackie Victor, two of her students who founded Avalon International Breads in Detroit in 1997. [3] She has been a longtime columnist for Spirituality & Health magazine. [4]

Contents

She currently resides in Eugene, Oregon.

Bibliography

Books

Articles

See also

Related Research Articles

Satori (悟り) is a Japanese Buddhist term for awakening, "comprehension; understanding". It is derived from the Japanese verb satoru.

Kenshō (見性) is a Japanese term from the Zen tradition. Ken means "seeing", shō means "nature, essence". It is usually translated as "seeing one's (true) nature", that is, the Buddha-nature or nature of mind.

Engaged Buddhism, also known as socially engaged Buddhism, refers to a Buddhist social movement that emerged in Asia in the 20th century. It is composed of Buddhists who seek to apply Buddhist ethics, insights acquired from meditation practice, and the teachings of the Buddhist dharma to contemporary situations of social, political, environmental, and economic suffering, and injustice.

A lineage in Buddhism is a line of transmission of the Buddhist teaching that is "theoretically traced back to the Buddha himself." The acknowledgement of the transmission can be oral, or certified in documents. Several branches of Buddhism, including Chan and Tibetan Buddhism maintain records of their historical teachers. These records serve as a validation for the living exponents of the tradition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hakuin Ekaku</span> Japanese Zen Buddhist master

Hakuin Ekaku was one of the most influential figures in Japanese Zen Buddhism. He is regarded as the reviver of the Rinzai school from a moribund period of stagnation, focusing on rigorous training methods integrating meditation and koan practice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Houn Jiyu-Kennett</span> British Buddhist abbess

Hōun Jiyu-Kennett, born Peggy Teresa Nancy Kennett, was a British roshi most famous for having been the first female to be sanctioned by the Sōtō School of Japan to teach in the West.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Daido Loori</span> American Buddhist writer (1931–2009)

John Daido Loori was a Zen Buddhist rōshi who served as the abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery and was the founder of the Mountains and Rivers Order and CEO of Dharma Communications. Daido Loori received shiho from Taizan Maezumi in 1986 and also received a Dendo Kyoshi certificate formally from the Soto school of Japan in 1994. In 1997, he received dharma transmission in the Harada-Yasutani and Inzan lineages of Rinzai Zen as well. In 1996 he gave dharma transmission to his student Bonnie Myotai Treace, in 1997 to Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, and in 2009 to Konrad Ryushin Marchaj. In addition to his role as a Zen Buddhist priest, Loori was an exhibited photographer and author of more than twenty books and was an avid naturalist.

Still Point Zen Buddhist Temple is located at 4347 Trumbull in Detroit, Michigan. The community of Zen Buddhists welcomes people from all walks of life and faiths to Sunday meetings, retreats and workshops. The temple was founded by P'arang Geri Larkin. Her ordination on July 2, 1995, followed three years of Buddhist development at Maitreya Buddhist Seminary. She served as dharma teacher at the Zen Buddhist Temple in Ann Arbor, Michigan before founding Still Point Buddhist Temple. She was taught by Venerable Samu Sunim, a Korean Zen Master who has established several Buddhist temples in North America. Still Point Buddhist Temple traces its lineage to Korean Buddhism. The current guiding teacher of Still Point Zen Buddhist Temple is Koho Vince Anila. Koho is the 1st dharma successor of P'arang Geri Larkin, and was ordained in May 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taizan Maezumi</span> Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher

Hakuyū Taizan Maezumi was a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher and rōshi, and lineage holder in the Sōtō, Rinzai, and Sanbo Kyodan traditions of Zen. He combined the Rinzai use of kōans and the Sōtō emphasis on shikantaza in his teachings, influenced by his years studying under Hakuun Yasutani in Sanbo Kyodan. He founded or co-founded several institutions and practice centers, including the Zen Center of Los Angeles, White Plum Asanga, Yokoji Zen Mountain Center and the Zen Mountain Monastery.

Thomas Moore is a psychotherapist, former monk, and writer of popular spiritual books, including the New York Times bestsellerCare of the Soul (1992), a "guide to cultivating depth and sacredness in everyday life". He writes and lectures in the fields of archetypal psychology, mythology, and imagination. His work is influenced by the writings of Carl Jung and James Hillman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Hopkins Aitken</span> American Zen Buddhist

Anne Arundel Hopkins Aitken was an American Zen Buddhist, in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. She co-founded the Honolulu Diamond Sangha in 1959 together with her husband, Robert Baker Aitken. She purchased both of its properties: the Koko An Zendo and Maui Zendo. Honolulu Diamond Sangha has been considered "one of several pivotal Buddhist organizations critical to the development of Zen" in western countries. Anne Aitken was also one of the original founders of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship.

The term subitism points to sudden awakening, the idea that insight into Buddha-nature, or the nature of mind, is "sudden," c.q. "in one glance," "uncovered all together," or "together, completely, simultaneously," in contrast to "successively or being uncovered one after the other." It may be posited as opposite to gradualism, the original Buddhist approach which says that following the dharma can be achieved only step by step, through an arduous practice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samu (sunim)</span> Buddhist monk (1941–2022)

The Venerable Samu Sunim, born Sam-Woo Kim, was a Korean Seon sunim previously of the Jogye Order. He claimed to have received Dharma transmission from Zen Master Weolha Sunim in 1983. He taught primarily in Canada and the United States, having opened centers in Toronto, New York City, Ann Arbor, Michigan and Chicago, Illinois as well as Mexico City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dharma talk</span> Public discourse on Buddhism by a Buddhist teacher

A Dharma talk (Sanskrit) or Dhamma talk (Pali) or Dharma sermon is a public discourse on Buddhism by a Buddhist teacher.

The Five Ranks is a poem consisting of five stanzas describing the stages of realization in the practice of Zen Buddhism. It expresses the interplay of absolute and relative truth and the fundamental non-dualism of Buddhist teaching.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Mountain Teaching</span> School of Buddhism developed in 8th century China

East Mountain Teaching denotes the teachings of the Fourth Ancestor Dayi Daoxin, his student and heir the Fifth Ancestor Daman Hongren, and their students and lineage of Chan Buddhism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enlightenment (spiritual)</span> Full comprehension of a situation

Enlightenment is a concept found in several religions, including Buddhist terms and concepts, most notably bodhi, kensho, and satori. It represents kaivalya and moksha (liberation) in Hinduism, Kevala Jnana in Jainism, and ushta in Zoroastrianism.

Zen has a rich doctrinal background, despite the traditional Zen narrative which states that it is a "special transmission outside scriptures" which "did not stand upon words."

The Zen tradition is maintained and transferred by a high degree of institutionalisation, despite the emphasis on individual experience and the iconoclastic picture of Zen.

Modern scientific research on the history of Zen discerns three main narratives concerning Zen, its history and its teachings: Traditional Zen Narrative (TZN), Buddhist Modernism (BM), Historical and Cultural Criticism (HCC). An external narrative is Nondualism, which claims Zen to be a token of a universal nondualist essence of religions.

References

  1. Michigan Dharmaweb
  2. Alumnae Association of Bernard College (May 2010). Bernard College Alumnae Bibliography. Retrieved on: 2010-07-17
  3. Collins, Lisa M. (4 September 2002). "On a roll". Metro Times . Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  4. "Geri Larkin columns". Spirituality & Health. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  5. Spirituality & Health often changes the title of a print article when it is published online. This article is titled "4 Steps to Transform Your Morning" online.
  6. Spirituality & Health often changes the title of a print article when it is published online. This article is titled "What We Can Learn From Leaning Into Difficulty" online.