Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘When I first joined the Los Altos group in 1965, I was told it was correct to address our teacher as “Rev. Suzuki” or “Sensei.” Apparently this was the practice at Sokoji and Zen Center in San Francisco. During the winter of 1966, Rev. Suzuki attended a weekend Alan Watts seminar with us. Alan was horrified to hear the term “Rev. Suzuki,” and told me, in no uncertain terms, that this was an uneducated and vulgar usage of the English term, “The Reverend.” I felt that it was not my place to question the decisions of Zen Center and Sokoji.

Later on in the year, Marian told us that Alan wrote a long and detailed letter to Zen Center on the matter. He suggested that we adopt the term Suzuki Roshi, and reserve the term “Sensei” for assistant priests. A vote was taken and Alan’s suggestions were approved.

Suzuki Roshi was away at the time, traveling in Japan. When he returned to Los Altos, he asked us why we were all calling him “Roshi.” We told him of Alan’s letter to Zen Center and how a vote was taken at the last business meeting. We said that we were supposed to call him “Roshi” from here on. I do not remember a time when Roshi laughed harder or longer. He said it was all right, and then he went off into gales of laughter again.’ (from the Haiku Zendo Chronicles)