Jack Kornfield tells this story: “Zen teacher Dainin
Katagiri Roshi . . . lived with his family in Minneapolis at the center of a
large Zen community. When he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, many students
came to help, but they also were frightened and confused at the thought that
their teacher was subject to ordinary human frailty. One day he called the
students to his bedside. ‘I see you are watching me closely. You want to see
how a Zen master dies. I’ll show you.’ He kicked his legs and flailed his arms
with alarm, crying out, ‘I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die!’ Then he
stopped and looked up at them. ‘I don’t know how I will die. Maybe I will die
in fear or in pain. Remember, there is no right way.’”
[Dainin Katagiri portrait by Molly Macnaughton]
The Third Step East: 215-30; 136, 212
The
Story of Zen: 275-80, 319, 352, 413, 414
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