Sonja Fenne Margulies (March 7, 1931 - May 5, 2013)
Sonja Margulies-Fenne began Zen practice in 1968 was ordained in 1975 and received dharma transmission from her teacher Kobun Chino Roshi in 1983. For many years she was the co-editor of The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology.
May 15th, 2013
I just received word that Sonja Margulies-Fenne died in Salt Lake City where she had moved to be with her son, Peter. She was 82.
Her Zen teacher, Kobun Chino Roshi, gave her a stick in 1983. She told me the story about her dharma transmission that might fit into the current conversation about authentically authorized zen teachers. She had been practicing for about 15 or so years with Kobun who taught at SF Zen Center with Suzuki Roshi, and he—Sonia’s words—wanted to cut the umbilical cord and allow her to stand her on her own feet. She resisted for one reason or another, and, as she told me, they went back and forth, and back and forth reaching a kind of koan quality, “What do I do with this one precious life of mine?”
At the end of one sesshin, during her exit dokusan, again they talked, and once again, seemed to arrive at no solution that satisfied her. (I think that Sonja was telling me, just like she told Kobun, that she didn’t want to give up her life on the beach in Santa Cruz, her writing, her poetry, her interest in psychology, and especially the cozy conversations with friends and her daughter Robin). So she got up and bowed to Kobun just as any good priest would honor his or her teacher. As she turned around and put her hand on the doorknob, Kobun called out “Sonja!” When she turned her head, he threw his stick at her. No time to think, she reached out and grabbed it.
Although she did many things expected of a Soto lineage holder, she remained very low key. Her practice center was the living room couch in her simple Santa Cruz beach cottage. Her teaching never lost the tone of a cozy conversation. And the depth of her love for the dharma shone through her self-care when she survived breast cancer and the care she gave her daughter, Robin, while she died from cancer. Beyond words.
She was a wonderful woman and inspiring teacher.
