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Guo Gu (a.k.a., Jimmy Yu Chinese: 果谷; born 1968-) is one of Chan/Zen Master Sheng Yen's senior and closest disciples, and assisted the master in leading activities at the Chan Meditation Center, Dharma Drum Retreat Center, and Dharma Drum Mountain in Taiwan, and other parts of Europe and Asia.
Guo Gu first learned meditation when he was four years old in 1972. He studied with one of the most respected Chinese meditation masters and ascetics living in Taiwan, Master Guangqin (1892-1986). In 1981, due to his family's relocation, Guo Gu moved to the United States.
In 1982, he began learning meditation from Master Sheng Yen, who was residing in New York at the time. Beginning in 1989, Guo Gu began to attend intensive Chan retreats with him. After the first retreat Master Sheng Yen gave him the Dharma name, Guo Gu, which means, "results from being the valley." In 1991, after college, Guo Gu was ordained as a monk and became the Sheng Yen's first personal attendant who traveled with the master. In 1995, he received yinke or inka (the seal of approval) for his first Chan experience, and was given permission by the master to teach Chan independently. He has subsequently received several affirmations of his experience in 1996, 1997, and 2007. In a chance meeting in June 2007 his experience was verified by the Rinzai Zen master, Roshi Noritake Shunan, of the Myoshin-ji Zen lineage.
In 2000, Guo Gu left monasticism and re-entered the world. In 2008, he received his Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Princeton University and began teaching Buddhism and East Asian religions academically as an Assistant Professor at Florida State University Florida State University. In 2009, he founded the [1]. He is the guiding teacher for the Western Dharma Teachers Training course at the Chan Meditation Center in New York and the Dharma Drum Lineage.
He is the author of The Essence of Chan and Self-Inflicted Violence in Chinese Religions, 1500-1700, and many other general and academic articles on Chan and Buddhism[2].
During his teens, Guo Gu (as Jimmy Yu) was the bassist for the American 1980s hardcore bands, (the original) Death Before Dishonor and Judge. Here is a 2008 Double Cross Hardcore fanzine interview with Jimmy Yu in which he talks about growing up in the hardcore scene and playing in Judge.
References
[edit]- Ryan J. Downey "BiographyL Judge." AMG Retrieved 19 May 2010
- Tim McMahon and Gordo of Double Cross "Parts I ~ VI." Retrieved 2 January 2011
Category:Florida State University faculty Category:Chan Buddhism Category:Zen Buddhist spiritual teachers Category:American heavy metal bass guitarists