Kobun Chino Otogawa

Kobun Chino Otogawa was a Soto Zen master who brought the tradition to the American West Coast and became known for his unconventional and deeply intuitive teaching style. He trained at Eiheiji and came to the United States to assist at the Tassajara Zen monastery, eventually establishing his own communities in California and New Mexico.

Kobun was known for his artistic sensibility and his willingness to teach in informal, non-institutional settings. His influence extended beyond the Zen community—he served as the spiritual adviser to Steve Jobs and influenced the aesthetic sensibility of early Apple computer design. His teaching emphasized the natural quality of zazen—sitting not as a formal exercise but as the most natural thing a human being can do. He drowned in 2002 while trying to save his young daughter, an act of spontaneous compassion that his students saw as consistent with his entire life of selfless practice.