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.

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.

11.2 linear feet (12 boxes, 3 cartons, 1 flat box, 1 oversize flat box, 1 roll storage box)

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