![[text]](http://ilind.net/oldkine_images/march-for-disarm/image/march2-01.jpg)
I just got the news that Aitken Roshi, founder of Hawaii’s Diamond Sangha, died today around 5:30 p.m.
I love this particular image of Aitken, a photo taken during a 1976 protest against nuclear weapons at Pearl Harbor’s West Loch.
He was at the front of this march with pacifist activist Jim Albertini. Albertini, on the left, and Aitken Roshi, on the right.
He was not shy about sharing his belief in nonviolence and pacificism.
I spent a lot of time with Aitken during the years I was on the staff of the American Friends Service Committee in Honolulu. Aitken’s Diamond Sangha started in Manoa, then branched to Maui, and, as I recall, later back into Palolo.
Here’s his brief autobiography written in 2003.
Our thoughts are with his son, Tom, and all those who knew him.
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a good life, we should all leave such ripples behind
I remember him beginning from the Vietnam era. I got to interview him a few years ago for Hana Hou:
http://www.hanahou.com/pages/magazine.asp?Action=DrawArticle&ArticleID=38&MagazineID=2
Doug,
Thank you. I really enjoyed your article, and I recommend it to others.
I liked Aitken Roshi’s quote from the wisdom of Mae West: “Old age is no place for sissies.”
Thank you for remembering Aitken Roshi, who over the years was an important participant in many initiatives promoting peace and justice.
A loss. A huge loss.
The new UH archive link for his autobiography:
http://library.manoa.hawaii.edu/departments/spec/aitken/auto.html