Claude Dalenberg (also known as Ananda Claude Dalenberg) (July 2, 1927 — February 18, 2008) was a Zen priest ordained by Shunryū Suzuki and a dharma successor of

Tenshin Reb Anderson Tenshin Zenki Reb Anderson (born 1943) is an American Buddhist who is a Zen teacher in the Sōtō Zen tradition of Shunryu Suzuki. He is a Senior Dharma teacher at the San Francisco Zen Center and at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in Marin County, C ...

Biography

Dalenberg was born on July 2, 1927, in

South Holland, Illinois South Holland is a village and south suburb of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States, within Thornton Township. The population was 21,465 at the 2020 census. History The area currently occupied by South Holland, Illinois, was first ...

. Growing up in a Dutch-Reformist environment, he attended Sunday school, catechism classes, Sunday morning and evening services. After serving in the Navy, Dalenberg enrolled in

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

in the School of Engineering. Dalenberg initially discovered

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

after attending a talk by Alan Watts in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1949. Dalenberg eventually graduated Northwestern with a degree in Philosophy. After moving to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in the 1950s, Dalenberg began attending the

American Academy of Asian Studies California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) is a private university in San Francisco, California.Otterman, Sharon. "Merging Spirituality and Clinical Psychology at Columbia". ''New York Times'', Aug. 9, 2012Aanstoos, C. Serlin, I., & Greenin ...

where he met

D.T. Suzuki , self-rendered in 1894 as "Daisetz", was a Japanese-American Buddhist monk, essayist, philosopher, religious scholar, translator, and writer. He was a scholar and author of books and essays on Buddhism, Zen and Shin that were instrumental in sp ...

Gary Snyder Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. His early poetry has been associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance and he has been described as the "poet laureate of ...

and others who deepened his interest in Buddhism. Dalenberg was a member of a zazenkai group with Snyder, Philip Whalen,

Albert Saijo Albert Fairchild Saijo (February 4, 1926 – June 2, 2011) was a Japanese-American poet associated with the Beat Generation. He and his family were imprisoned as part of the United States government's internment of Japanese Americans during World ...

, and Lew Welch. He studied with

Nyogen Senzaki Nyogen Senzaki (千崎如幻, 1876–1958) was a Rinzai Zen monk who was one of the 20th century's leading proponents of Zen Buddhism in the United States. Early life Details of Senzaki's early life are unclear. Town records in Fukaura, Aomor ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

as well as with Hodo Tobase at Sokoji in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. In the mid-1960s, Dalenberg met Shunryū Suzuki and began studying with him, eventually becoming a Senior Priest at the

San Francisco Zen Center San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC), is a network of affiliated Sōtō Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. Th ...

. Dalenberg enjoyed learning from other Buddhist sects and often attended services at a Buddhist Churches of America branch near Sokoji. He was also involved with

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

and worked with them towards

prison abolition The prison abolition movement is a network of groups and activists that seek to reduce or eliminate prisons and the prison system, and replace them with systems of rehabilitation that do not place a focus on punishment and government institutiona ...

. He served as President of the Buddhist Council of Northern California and helped establish the East-West House in San Francisco. Dalenberg appeared under the pseudonym "Bud Diefendorf" in

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian a ...

's novel '' The Dharma Bums''.

References

External links

Ananda Claude Dalenberg main page
at David Chadwick's website
Ananda Claude Dalenberg – Remembering My Friend
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalenberg, Claude San Francisco Zen Center American Zen Buddhists 1927 births 2008 deaths Religious leaders from the San Francisco Bay Area