John Daido Loori
| John Daido Loori | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Religion | Zen Buddhism |
| School | Rinzai and Sōtō |
| Lineage | Mountains and Rivers Order (part of White Plum Asanga) |
| Dharma names | Muge Daido |
| Personal | |
| Nationality | American |
| Born | June 14, 1931 Jersey City, NJ, United States |
| Died | October 9, 2009 (aged 78) Mount Tremper, NY, United States |
| Senior posting | |
| Title | Rōshi, abbot |
| Successor | Bonnie Myotai Treace, Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Konrad Ryushin Marchaj |
| Religious career | |
| Teacher | Taizan Maezumi |
| Website | Zen Mountain Monastery |
John Daido Loori (June 14, 1931 – October 9, 2009) 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 (dharma transmission) 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.
In October 2009, he stepped down as abbot citing health issues. Days later, Zen Mountain Monastery announced that his death was imminent. On October 9, 2009, at 7:30 a.m. he died of lung cancer in Mount Tremper, New York.
John Daido Loori was born in Jersey City, New Jersey and raised Roman Catholic. As a child Loori loved photographing things, once using his family's bathroom as a makeshift dark room. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1947 to 1952. Later, after studying at Rutgers, he worked as a chemist in the food industry and led the American Civil Liberties Union in Orange and Sullivan Counties in New York. As an adult he distanced himself from Catholicism and explored a variety of other religions. Then, in 1971, he attended a workshop given by the photographer Minor White. Loori came to study photography under White until his death and also learned meditation from him. In 1972 Daido Loori began his formal Zen practice, studying in New York under Soen Nakagawa and then in California under Taizan Maezumi, Roshi.
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