Editing Gary Snyder (section)

===Japan and India===
Independently, some of the Beats, including Whalen, had become interested in Zen, but Snyder was one of the more serious scholars of the subject among them, preparing in every way he could think of for eventual study in Japan. In 1955, the [[First Zen Institute of America]] offered him a scholarship for a year of Zen training in Japan, but the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] refused to issue him a passport, informing him that "it has been alleged you are a Communist."  A subsequent [[District of Columbia Court of Appeals]] ruling forced a change in policy, and Snyder got his passport.<ref>Suiter (2002) pp. 124–125</ref>  In the end, his expenses were paid by [[Ruth Fuller Sasaki]], for whom he was supposed to work; but initially he served as personal attendant and English tutor<ref name="Stirling 83">Stirling (2006) p. 83</ref> to [[abbot (Buddhism)|Zen abbot]] Miura Isshu, at Rinko-in, a temple in [[Shokoku-ji]] in [[Kyoto]], where American Buddhist popularizer [[Dwight Goddard]] and British author and Japanese culture devotee [[R. H. Blyth]] had preceded him.<ref>Suiter (2002) pp. 192–193</ref>  Mornings, after ''[[zazen]]'', ''[[Sutra#Buddhism|sutra]]'' chanting, and chores for the abbot, he took Japanese classes, bringing his spoken Japanese up to a level sufficient for ''[[kōan]]'' study. He developed a friendship with   [[Philip Yampolsky]], an eminent translator and scholar of Zen Buddhism, who took him around Kyoto.<ref name="Stirling 83"/> In early July 1955, he took [[Refuge (Buddhism)|refuge]] and requested to become Miura's disciple, thus formally becoming a Buddhist.<ref>Suiter (2002) p. 208</ref>

In 1958, he returned to California via the Persian Gulf, Turkey, Sri Lanka and various Pacific Islands, voyaging as a crewman in the [[engine room]] on the [[oil tanker]] ''Sappa Creek'',<ref>Suiter (2002) p. 235</ref><ref name="Smith 12">Smith (2000) p. 12</ref> and took up residence at Marin-an again.<ref>Suiter (2002) p. 238</ref> He turned one room into a ''[[zendo]]'', with about six regular participants. In early June, he met the poet [[Joanne Kyger]]. She became his girlfriend, and eventually his wife.<ref>Suiter (2002) p. 241</ref>  In 1959, he shipped for Japan again, where he rented a cottage outside Kyoto.<ref>Suiter (2002) p. 245</ref>  He became the first foreign disciple of [[Rinzai]] ''[[Rōshi]]'' [[Oda Sesso]], the new [[Rōshi|abbot]] of [[Daitoku-ji]].<ref>Suiter (2002) p. 246</ref>  He married Kyger on February 28, 1960, immediately after her arrival in Japan, which Fuller Sasaki insisted they do, if they were to live together and be associated with the [[First Zen Institute of America|Nichibei Daiichi Zen Kyokai]],.<ref name="Stirling 110">Stirling (2006) p. 110</ref> Snyder and Kyger were married from 1960 to 1965.<ref name="Suiter 325">Suiter (2002) p. 325</ref>

During the period between 1956 and 1969, Snyder went back and forth between California and Japan,<ref name="Suiter 250">Suiter (2002) p. 250</ref> studying Zen, working on translations with Fuller Sasaki, and finally living for a while with a group of other people on the small, volcanic island of [[Suwanosejima]]. His previous study of written Chinese assisted his immersion in the Zen tradition, which has its roots in [[Tang dynasty]] China, and enabled him to support himself while he was living in Japan. Snyder received the Zen precepts and his dharma name of ''Chofu'' ("Listen to the Wind"), and lived occasionally as a ''de facto'' [[Buddhist monk|monk]], but never registered to become a [[Buddhist priest|priest]],<ref name="Suiter 250"/> planning eventually to return to the United States to "turn the wheel of the dharma". During this time, he published two collections of his poems from the early to mid 1950s, ''Myths & Texts'' (1960), and ''Six Sections from Mountains and Rivers Without End'' (1965). This last was the beginning of a project that he was to continue working on until the late 1990s. Much of Snyder's poetry expresses experiences, environments, and insights involved with the work he has done for a living: logger, fire-lookout, steam-freighter crew, translator, carpenter, and itinerant poet, among other things. During his years in Japan, Snyder was also initiated into ''[[Shugendo]]'', a highly [[syncretism|syncretic]] [[asceticism|ascetic]] religious cult.<ref name="Kyger 103">Kyger (2000) p. 103</ref>

In the early 1960s he traveled for six months through India with Kyger, Ginsberg, and Ginsberg's partner, the poet and actor [[Peter Orlovsky]].<ref name="Smith 12"/> Their sojourn took them to Sri Lanka, then to south India, and eventually travelling up into the north. They observed the folkways of the various peoples, went on hikes, stopped at landmarks, temples, burning ghats, monastic caves, and ashrams. As they went, they learned in part through conversations with many Indians and Europeans who could speak English. They visited numerous cities, including Madras, Calcutta, Mumbai, Banaras, Old Delhi and New Delhi, as well as Rishikesh and Hardwar, and Bodh Gaya (where Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha, attained enlightenment). Especially important to Snyder and Ginsberg, in Dharamashala the Dalai Lama met with them and they discussed Buddhist principles and practices.<ref>Snyder, Gary 2009 ''Passage Through India''. Counterpoint, New York. ISBN 1593761783</ref>

Snyder and Kyger separated soon after their trip to India, and divorced in 1965.