The following is from Joko’s daughter and son:
Our mother, Joko, died peacefully at 0730 Wednesday June 15, 2011. That’s all for now. I’ll email again. For now, please think of some teaching of hers that may have opened you to transformation in some aspect of your life and the transformation that occurred. Love to all and thank you for your prayers for a peaceful passing for the most amazing person I have ever known.
Gassho,
Brenda Chiko
Charlotte Joko Beck was born on the 27th of March, 1917 in New Jersey. She studied piano at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
She began formal Zen studies in her forties with Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi. She would also study with Hakuun Yasutani and Soen Nakagawa, among others of that great generation of missionary teachers. Joko received Dharma transmission from Maezumi Roshi and established the San Diego Zen Center in 1983.
She would become one of the most widely respected teachers of her generation.
I know I owe a great deal to her for her teachings through her two books Everyday Zen: Love and Work and Nothing Special: Living Zen.
And my debt extends to my personal relationships with a number of her Dharma successors, who I consider among the most lively and interesting Zen teachers in the West.
According to the Twitter account of fellow Zen teacher Joan Halifax, Joko’s last words were,”This too is wonder.”
I’m of the opinion we don’t know who the real teachers are until they’ve died, when we get to weigh what was done wisely and what was not. Her good far outweighs any ill. I only pray that may be said of me someday. Or, of any of us…
A great teacher.
Endless bows of gratitude.
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