Ross Bolleter: The Intimacy of Zen Koan Practice
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Discover one man’s experience of integrating Zen teachings into everyday life through decades of koan practice. In this episode of the Wisdom Podcast we meet Ross Bolleter Roshi, Zen author and teacher in the Diamond Sangha lineage. Ross shares with us stories from his many years of practice and study, beginning with how he met and became a student of Robert Aitken in the early 1980s. We hear how Aitken gave Ross his first koan to practice and eventually, together with John Tarrant, gave him transmission. Ross also discusses the relationship between koan practice and kenshō, and he shares how koan practice can transform one’s life over many years. Finally, we hear about his forthcoming book on Western koans, Crow Flies Backwards.
About the Interviewee
Ross Bolleter is a Zen teacher in the Diamond Sangha tradition. He trained with Robert Aitken and John Tarrant, and received transmission from them in 1997. Ross Bolleter teaches in Australia and New Zealand. He is a composer with numerous CD releases, especially in the field of ruined piano. His book of poems, Piano Hill, was published n 2009, and was the subject of a television documentary aired in Australia and New Zealand. He is the author of Dongshan’s Five Ranks and the forthcoming Crow Flies Backwards.
