Rinzai

There’s a story from the ninth century about three Buddhist monks crossing a bridge in rural China and coming upon a disciple of the Zen master Rinzai.

A longtime student of Rinzai Zen Buddhism, he was ordained a monk in 1997.

Mr Cohen’s search for redemption led him to Mount Baldy monastery, where he trained as a Rinzai Buddhist monk.

As a tool toward faster enlightenment, Zen's Rinzai school had its students wrestle conundrums, or koans, such as the famous query "������ is the sound of one hand clapping?"

Ruth Fuller Sasaki, 74, Zen Buddhist scholar and first Westerner admitted to the Rinzai Zen priesthood; of a heart attack; in Kyoto, Japan.