Arthur Braverman

By Buddhism Now on 16 January 2010 • ( 0 )

Arthur Braverman was born on December 8, 1942 in Bronx New York City in the neighborhood of Pelham Parkway. He attended New York City College where he got his bachelor’s degree in Physics. After living in Nigeria for two years through Peace Corps he went to Japan to study Zen Buddhism. He studied under Kosho Uchiyama Roshi at Antaiji – a small zen temple for seven years. He married his wife Hiroko and they returned to America together in 1978 where he studied classical Japanese at Columbia University. His first translation was Mud and Water: The Teaching of Zen Master Bassui, the next was Warrior of Zen: The Teachings of Suzuki Shosan, and finally A Quiet Room: The Poetry of Zen Master Jakushitsu. His recent publication was Living and Dying in Zazen, which is a memoir. He now lives in Ojai, CA where he has just published a novel Dharma Brothers.

Dharma Brothers: Kodo and Tokujoo is based on the lives of two Japanese Zen Masters, how they grew from two ordinary boys, walking very different paths to become extraordinary men, and the deep spiritual bond between them. It is also the story of Japan from 1880 to 1965, of two personal accounts of Zen journeys to enlightenment, and of love and friendship. The story follows the lives of these two Dharma brothers, set against a backdrop of the Japanese-Russian War of 1905, and the rise of fascism in Japan in the 1930s. Kodo was an orphan, brought up in a harsh environment, while Tokujoo was the son of a well-to-do businessman. They both spent years studying in the most stringent Zen monasteries and became life-long friends. Each struggled to find his way clear of the circumstances in which he had been reared. Each sought a way of life offering more meaning and truth, ultimately becoming a different exemplar of Zen practice and living Buddhism.