Glassman was a Brooklyn-born Jew and an American Zen master. Bernie Glassman was a Brooklyn-born Jew
 and an American Zen master. Bernie Glassman was a Brooklyn-born Jew
 and an American Zen master.
An American Zen Master has died: An oral history of Roshi Bernie
was a Brooklyn-born Jew, a recognized Zen master, a Buddhist trailblazer, a restless mensch and
. Glassman plunged into aeronautical engineering, into Zen, into leading a Buddhist community, into running a
Glassman dismissed "mannequin meditation" and carried his Zen practice from clean-aired monasteries to chaotic city streets
in his later years Glassman looked less like a traditional Zen master than a "hippie cigar entrepreneur,"
 which Glassman co-founded in 1982 with his Zen community, has grown into a $10 million
The Five Invitations" and founding director of the Zen Hospice Project. "He fed their material needs
 and he fed them spiritual sustenance." Zen Peacemakers International, Glassman's other big venture,
Hozan Alan Senauke, vice abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center in California and a longtime social justice activist.
 Trained by Japanese missionaries in the intricacies of Zen, a school of Buddhism brought to China in the
ambitious and iconoclastic, preferring Hawaiian shirts to a Zen teacher's brown robes, and came to believe
not enough." Some of Glassman's Zen experiments found a following; others did not. At
, some Buddhists questioned whether they were authentically "Zen" at all. "He moved pretty far
 to the edge of what Zen was," said the Rev. James Myoun Ford
, a Zen priest and Unitarian Universalist minister who has written several books
 about Zen. "Zen needs people who break the mold, but we also
s empowering of non-Buddhists to teach in his Zen lineage, relentless focus on social justice and refusal to
 adopt the traditional trappings of a Zen teacher stirred the waters of American Buddhism. "
was a heretic or an avatar of the 'New Zen,'" said Helen Tworkov, author of the
 book "Zen in America: Five Teachers and the Search for an
what he tried to do is broaden the parameters of Zen, especially for underserved populations." Glassman's
 restlessness and unconventionality likely prevented several of his Zen projects from attracting large enough flocks to flourish, several
experts said. But his idiosyncrasies also inspired fellow Zen adepts. "Bernie is the one who really
, whom he recognized as masters in his Soto Zen lineage. The eclectic heirs include a National Book Award
of what it means to be a Western practitioner of Zen in the 21st century and to make a difference in
Enkyo O'Hara, abbot of the Village Zendo in New York City and one of Glassman'
in front of me." Glassman leads the Zen Peacemakers on a 
 Photograph by Peter Cunningham. Glassman leads the Zen Peacemakers on a 
 Photograph by Peter Cunningham. Glassman leads the Zen Peacemakers on a "bearing witness" retreat.
engineering college. In college I got interested in Zen through reading Huston Smith ... the page
 on Zen struck me as home. Nowadays on the web,
came back in '63 and heard there was a Zen temple in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles. There was
Roshi, who had become somewhat famous in the Zen world because of "Three Pillars of Zen.
 Glassman and his family moved into Maezumi's Zen Center of Los Angeles. Glassman and his teacher,
family. We kept kosher in the home and Zen masters from around the world would come to our house
him the first American authorized to teach in his Soto Zen lineage. Glassman: "I became very involved
." Maezumi encouraged Glassman to start his own Zen community. With donations, he bought a mansion for
 Photograph by Peter Cunningham. Glassman's Zen community in New York started a bakery called Greyston.
. Roshi Wendy Egyoku Nakao, abbot of Zen Center of Los Angeles: "He immediately starts
because they wanted him to be the image of the Zen master in the Zendo and he was so brilliant at
former student of Glassman's and author of "Zen in America:" "He was tremendously restless
pissed and say, 'That's not Zen!' And he would say, 'That
's exactly Zen!" There was an exodus of students who didn
" Glassman: "When we say that Zen is life, dealing in the moment with what is
 The Rev. James Myoun Ford, Zen priest and Unitarian Universalist minister: "Bernie cared
soup kitchens. He was going to be the Zen Buddhist Dorothy Day. Glassman leads one of his 
" Frank Ostaseski, founding director of the Zen Hospice Project: "What I learned from Bernie
Pat Enkyo O'Hara, abbot of Village Zendo in New York City: "He felt
very much a part of the hierarchy in the Soto Zen school. When Bernie disrobed and grew his hair,
Hozan Alan Senauke, vice abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center: "For Bernie it was a challenge
assumed that Bernie would become the leading figure for Soto Zen Buddhism in the United States. But he absolutely stepped
looking for Bernie to be the point person for their Zen project in America." Nakao: "I
questioning: What does it mean to be a Zen Buddhist, a human being, just to be?
the way he led his life. That was Zen to him." Glassman: "I couldn
Holocaust concentration camps and homeless shelters became hallmarks of the Zen Peacemaker Order, which Glassman co-founded with his
Holmes, in 1996. Glassman and other Zen Peacemakers meditate on the train tracks at Auschwitz. Photograph
 by Peter Cunningham. Glassman and other Zen Peacemakers meditate on the train tracks at Auschwitz. Photograph
 by Peter Cunningham. Glassman and other Zen Peacemakers meditate on the train tracks at Auschwitz. Photograph
 star Jeff Bridges called "The Dude and the Zen Master." Actor Jeff Bridges and Glassman wrote a
Bernie has been interested for some time now in making Zen more accessible to our times and culture, relevant and
Alisa Glassman: "The stroke itself became a Zen practice for him. He pushed himself to walk again
." Rami Efal, executive director of Zen Peacemakers International and Glassman's former assistant: 
that role. His students don't have Zendos (Zen centers) or cushions, they
" Glassman died on November 4, as Zen Peacemakers were preparing for a "bearing witness"