Ruth Strout McCandless collection on Nyogen Senzaki, 1895-2007, bulk 1940-1960

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Summary

Abstract:
The Ruth Strout McCandless collection on Nyogen Senzaki contains materials related to Ruth McCandless' collaboration and association with Nyogen Senzaki and the American Zen Buddhist movement. Senzaki (1876-1958) was a Japanese Zen monk who left Japan for the United States in 1905. Senzaki lived in San Francisco and Los Angeles in the 1920s and 1930s, and played an important role in the formative years of the American Zen Buddhist movement. Ruth Strout McCandless was a South Pasadena resident who in 1941 became a disciple of Senzaki and later became a major scholar of Japanese Buddhism studies in the United States. The collection consists of correspondence, photographs, ephemera, books, business records, artwork, and textiles. Also included are original manuscripts by Senzaki with transcriptions and edits by Ruth McCandless, correspondence from Senzaki to McCandless during his incarceration in the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming, a traditional Zen Buddhist Kesa robe, and a decorative scroll used in Senzaki's ministry.
Extent:
11.2 linear feet (12 boxes, 3 cartons, 1 flat box, 1 oversize flat box, 1 roll storage box)
Language:
Materials are primarily in English, with some in Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, German and French.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Ruth Strout McCandless collection on Nyogen Senzaki (Collection 2296). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection spans from 1895-2007 and consists of correspondence, photographs, books, and personal memorabilia pertaining to Ruth McCandless' collaboration and association with Nyogen Senzaki and the American Zen Buddhist movement. The collection also contains manuscripts, lecture notes, translations, and periodicals. A particular strength of this collection is the material relating to the influence and rising popularity of Zen Buddhism on Western society in the 20th century. This is evidenced through Senzaki and McCandless' translations of historical texts, Senzaki's lecture notes from talks given in American universities, the formation of Zen Buddhist organizations in the United States, and publications that aimed to present Zen Buddhist teachings to Western audiences.

Biographical / historical:

Nyogen Senzaki (1876–1958), born Aizo Senzaki, was a Zen Buddhist monk and one of the first Zen masters to come to the United States from Japan. He developed a following with his "floating zendo" model. Through his own writings, translations, and the work of his students including Samuel L. Lewis and Robert Aitken, he has been regarded as one of the 20th century's leading proponents of Zen Buddhism. His texts and translations, which aimed to make Zen Buddhist principles understandable and accessible, were a large influence in their popularity and adaption in Western culture.

Specifics of Senzaki's early life are unclear. He was raised in Northern Japan where he learned Chinese calligraphy and studied the Buddhist Sutras. Senzaki originally aspired to become a pediatrician, and attended Imperial University in Japan. Upon reading the Buddhist Tripitaka texts, he was inspired to become a Monk, and went on to study Zen under Soyen Shaku at the Rinzai School at the Engakuji Monastery in Kamakura. During his studies, Senzaki met Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki, a seminal Zen scholar and fellow student of Shaku. In 1905, Shaku travelled to America and brought Senzaki with him. He lived in San Francisco, working as a houseboy, a manager of a small hotel, and as an operator at the Chinese Telephone exchange. In 1922, Senzaki began to rent out a small hall to give lectures and host meditation groups. After moving to Los Angeles in the 1930s, he resided in Little Tokyo and gave semi-weekly talks and zazen. In the spring of 1942 he was incarcerated at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming, where he was held for 4 years. Following his release, Senzaki returned to Los Angeles and resumed his lectures, classes, and zazen. Senzaki passed away on May 7, 1958.

Ruth Strout McCandless (1909-1994) was Senzaki's close collaborator and a major Western scholar on Zen Buddhism in Japan, particularly contributing to Zen Buddhist movements in California. While under the guidance of Soen Nakagawa at Ryutakuji, she became the first Western woman to stay at a Zen monastery. She was ordained as an Upasika of the Sangha under the mentorship of Senzaki in 1941.

McCandless was born in 1909 and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. She studied art, literature and science at Stanford University, where she graduated from in 1932. After school McCandless worked in the San Francisco Stock Exchange Institute. She later moved to Los Angeles where she worked in Hollywood in the publicity department for Samuel Goldwyn, and later as a secretary to screenwriter Reginald Berkeley. McCandless married her husband, John McCandless in 1932. She had two sons, Duncan and Keith McCandless. McCandless became interested in Zen Buddhism through her study of comparative religion, inspired by Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki's Essays in Zen Buddhism (1927). McCandless met Senzaki in the early 1940's and worked with him studying Zen and translating manuscripts. With Senzaki, McCandless co-authored Buddhism and Zen (1953), a book that provided an elementary introduction to Zen Buddhism aimed for Western audiences. She was also an editor of The Iron Flute (1961), a collection of ancient Zen koans. In 1961 McCandless and her husband divorced, prompting her to enroll in the Asian studies graduate department at Claremont Graduate University. She continued in the study of Zen Buddhism, and maintained friendships with many prominent figures in the Zen Buddhist community such as Soen Nakagawa, Eido Tai Shimano, and Ruth Fuller Sasaki. McCandless passed away on December 14, 1994 in San Mateo, California.

Acquisition information:
Purchase, 2015.
Processing information:

Processed by Wakako Suzuki under the supervision of Courtney Dean in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), 2016. Description enhancement and further physical processing completed by Jessica Tai, 2016 and 2017. Processing of this collection was generously supported by the Haynes Foundation.

Detailed description provided by Nelson Foster, Roshi.

Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.

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Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in four series, two of which have been further arranged in subseries. The series and subseries arrangement of the collection is as follows:

  • Series 1: Subject Files, 1930-2007
  • Series 2: Professional Materials, 1895-1971
  • Series 3: Publications, 1900-2006
    • Subseries 3.1: Printed Material, 1931-1988
    • Subseries 3.2: Monographs, 1900-2006
  • Series 4: Personal Materials, circa 1896-1990s
    • Subseries 4.1: Photographs, circa 1896-1984
    • Subseries 4.2: Correspondence and Memorabilia, circa 1930s-1990s

Physical / technical requirements:

CONTAINS DIGITAL MATERIALS: This collection contains processed digital materials. All requests to access digital materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Physical location:
Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Ruth Strout McCandless collection on Nyogen Senzaki (Collection 2296). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
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