(March 27, 1917 - June 15, 2011)
Joko was responsible for a number of important innovations in Zen teaching. In particular, she taught students to work with the emotions of everyday life rather than attempting to avoid or escape them. Because she was adept at teaching students to work with their psychological states, she attracted a number of students who were interested in the relationship between Zen and modern psychology. Several of her Dharma heirs are practicing psychologists/psychiatrists. In 1995 Joko, along with 3 of her Dharma heirs, founded the Ordinary Mind Zen School. In 2006 Joko moved to Prescott, Arizona, where she continued to teach until she retired as a teacher in late 2010. In the spring of 2010, Joko announced that she had chosen Gary Nafstad to be her Dharma successor.
Shortly after Joko’s departure in 2006 a controversy arose over the future of the San Diego Zen Center. Joko Beck sent a letter in which she stated that she was revoking Dharma transmission from two senior students: Ezra Bayda and Elizabeth Hamilton. Joko also stated that the San Diego Zen Center should not claim to represent her or her teaching. Joko’s actions caught some long-time students off guard and led one of her Dharma heirs to question her judgment.[1]
After years of declining health, Beck was placed under hospice care in June 2011 after her health rapidly deteriorated, she stopped eating and was dramatically losing weight. According to Beck's daughter, Brenda, up until the end “She is happy as a clam and, as she told me, will die when she’s ready. She says it’s soon.” Beck died on June 15, 2011.[2] According to the Twitter account of fellow Zen teacher Joan Halifax, Beck’s last words were, ”This too is wonder.”[3]
Books
- Everyday Zen: Love and Work (edited by Steve Smith; 1989) ISBN 0-06-060734-3.
- Nothing Special: Living Zen (1993) ISBN 0-06-251117-3
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