You may likely have heard by now that John Daido Loori, the founder of the Mountain and Rivers Order of Zen Buddhism has died. He will be missed.

The NY Times published an obit. There are so many things one could say about Daido, and they’ll be said by people far better than me. (The MRO’s mini-site in tribute to Daido does a beautiful job.) That being said, I did want to share this tidbit, being that we talk about Buddhism and tattoos here a good deal. From the Times obit:

Zen Buddhist elders nearly prevented Abbot Loori’s ordination as a monk, after seeing a tattoo peeking from his robe. A Navy souvenir, it depicted an innocent-enough anchor, but Japanese associate tattoos with criminals, and Abbot Loori refused to erase his past.

The ordination finally went ahead. But the abbot wore a bandage over the tattoo when he visited Japan, Newsday reported in 2004.

“I think they were a bit puzzled when I returned year after year and the burn still hadn’t healed,” he said.

Anyway, here’s to Daido, and here’s to not erasing the past.