Oda Sessō (小田 雪窓, 1901 – 16 September 1966)Stirling 2006, pg. 50 was a Rinzai Rōshi and abbot of the Daitoku-ji (大徳寺) in Kyoto, Japan, a Dharma successor of Gotō Zuigan. He was elected abbot of Daitoku-ji upon Goto's retirement from that post in 1955. At Goto's request, Oda opened Daitoku-ji to foreigners. His western students included Gary Snyder,Snyder 1980, pp. 97, 98Kraft 1988, p. 20 Janwillem van de Wetering, Irmgard Schloegl, and Philip Yampolsky.
Snyder described him as:
Alan Watts said:
Janwillem van de Wetering gave an account of his stay at Daitoku-ji in his book The Empty Mirror: Experiences in a Japanese Zen Monastery.
See also Buddhism in Japan List of Rinzai Buddhists
References
Sources Kraft, Kenneth; Morinaga, Sōkō. Zen, Tradition and Transition (1988) Grove Press. . Kyger, Joanne. Strange Big Moon: The Japan and India Journals: 1960–1964 (2000) North Atlantic Books. . Snyder, Gary. The Real Work: Interviews & Talks, 1964–1979 (1980) New Directions Publishing. . Stirling, Isabel. Zen Pioneer: The Life and Works of Ruth Fuller Sasaki (2006) Shoemaker & Hoard. .
Further reading Janwillem van de Wetering, The Empty Mirror: Experiences in a Japanese Zen Monastery.