Kobun Chino Otogawa came to the U.S. from Japan in 1967 at the invitation of Shunryu Suzuki to help train novice monks at the newly formed Tassajara Zen Mountain Center outside San Francisco. He was later invited by Choygam Trungpa to Boulder, Colorado to help found Naropa University and teach students zazen, oryoki, and calligraphy. Throughout his years of travel, Kobun regularly returned to Colorado to teach and lead sesshin at Naropa and at Shambhala Mountain Center.
Kobun’s gentle spirit and spontaneous teaching style deeply affected those that interacted with him and his spirit is embodied in the Zen centers he helped to found, including Hakubai.
We continue with another talk given by Kobun 30 years ago at Naropa University in Boulder, in which he talks about bowing, offering incense, kinhin (walking meditation), and other topics.