Kobun Chino Otogawa
| Kobun Otogawa | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Religion | Zen Buddhism |
| School | Sōtō |
| Personal | |
| Born | February 1, 1938 |
| Died | July 26, 2002 (aged 64) Switzerland |
| Senior posting | |
| Based in | Haiku Zen Center |
| Title | Zen priest |
Kobun Otogawa (乙川 弘文 Otogawa Kōbun?) (February 1, 1938 – July 26, 2002) was a Sōtō Zen priest.
Otogawa, who preferred to be called by his first name, rather than by either of the Japanese Zen honorifics: sensei (teacher) or roshi (master), came to San Francisco, California, United States, from Japan in 1967 in response to an invitation from Shunryu Suzuki-roshi, serving as his assistant at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center until 1970.
Otogawa was the son of a Sōtō Zen priest and was ordained a priest himself at the age of 12. He did undergraduate studies at Komazawa University and received a master's degree in Mahayana Buddhism from Kyoto University. He then trained for three years at Eiheiji. Among his primary teachers was the unconventional Zen master Kodo Sawaki, known as the last of the unsui, or wandering monks, who had refused an invitation to be the head teacher at Eiheiji but instead chose to wander from place to place teaching, never staying in the same place for more than three days.
Originally there were plans for Otogawa to guide a satellite group of the San Francisco Zen Center located in Los Altos, California, but he was most needed at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center (where he stayed until 1970). He moved to Los Altos and began teaching there at the Haiku Zendo shortly after leaving Tassajara, in the late summer of 1970. After Suzuki's death in 1971, Otogawa became the official head of Haiku Zen Center (soon after incorporated under the name Bodhi) in Los Altos, remaining there as teacher until 1978. During this time, he also was integral to the formation of the Santa Cruz Zen Center. He went on to establish another center, Hokoji, in Arroyo Seco near Taos, New Mexico, taught regularly at Naropa University, and returned periodically to Bodhi to lead retreats.
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