Barry at Ox Herding just announced that Joko Beck has been placed in hospice.  Similar to Barry’s experience, most visitors to this blog find their way here through the search engine term “Joko Beck.”   It’s not surprising.  Joko was the first Zen teacher whose words sunk in and had a profound impact on my life.  Her transmission of the dharma brought to me – as it has for many others – a sense of all this being doable, possible, likely in my lifetime.

Here is the message about Joko from her daughter; the complete message is on the blog Clouds:

My mother, Joko, is now in hospice and I don’t expect her to live more than one or two more weeks.  I put her into hospice because she was not eating and losing weight.  Please know she is completely happy.  She gets to lie in her hospital bed and no one is telling she has to get up and walk every hour.  No one is asking her to please eat.   Now, she will take a few bites of breakfast, and maybe a few bites of her other meals and eat all her vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce.  She is happy as a clam and, as she told me, will die when she’s ready.  She says it’s soon.

Please hold Joko in your prayers and meditations.  She leads.  We will follow.  Such is the path.

Namo Avalokiteshvara
Namo Avalokiteshvara
Namo Avalokiteshvara