EKYO MAEZUMI

Ekyo Maezumi, our beloved mother, passed away on

Sunday April 10th, 2022  in her home. She was 74.

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In honor of the life and death of Ekyo Maezumi a virtual service was held by Daniel Doen Silberberg Roshi and the Lost Coin Sanga followed by a Dharma Talk by Rebecca Ryuen Long Okuya Sensei. The full service can be viewed below.

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Following her cremation service, we will be scattering some of her ashes at her favorite places including the Pacific Ocean, National Parks, the Grand Canyon and the Island of Kauai.

Ekyo Martha Eunice Cornell, was born on July 11th, 1947 to Anthony and Marion Cornell in New London, Connecticut.
As a child raised in a Catholic family, she often said she wanted to grow up to be a nun. In her own circuitous way, Ekyo realized this dream through her Zen practice.

She and her older brother Leo Edward grew up in San Diego and both were avid surfers. Her love for the ocean and swimming was likely inherited from her father, a deep-sea diver who taught her to scuba dive when she was 11 years old. She spent many years teaching swimming, canoeing and art to children.

Ekyo earned a Masters Degree in Anthropology, with a concentration in Eastern Philosophy.  She met her future husband, Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi Roshi at Cal State Northridge, while attending a lecture he was giving on Zen Buddhism.  She was his student for several years at the Zen Center of Los Angeles before they were married in 1975.

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Her dharma name Ekyo, means Mirror of Wisdom, and this was the name she identified with.
Anyone who knew Ekyo, knew of her love for Art, her family, Buddhism and, of course, her lifelong passion for cats.

She was a singularly talented painter, a true artist. Her expression, subtlety Great Compassion and Wry Wisdom is evidenced in all of her art. She practiced Sumi-e painting, the goal of which is to capture the essence, or spirit, of the subject matter. It is a very spontaneous and expressive art form. In her art there is beauty in each individual brush stroke.

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Over the years we had the privilege of many, many rough
drafts of her works, and the variation was incredible. The attention to detail and the depth of emotion in a single brush stroke. Ekyo was a perfectionist and her Art practice was her own meditative exploration and reflection. Her subject matter was often Bodhidharma, Jizo Bodhisattva, Kanzeon Bodhisattva and the Chinese animal Zodiac.

Ekyo and Maezumi Roshi also shared a love for road trips, the Great Outdoors and camping. Their honeymoon was spent in the Redwoods and our family vacations are a kaleidoscope of National Parks, archeological monuments, river rafting, fishing and campfires.

Zen Buddhism was her life-path and practice. Over the years she has studied Koans with Doen Roshi and participated in numerous retreats with both the Lost Coin sangha and the Kanzeon sangha with Genpo Roshi. She also participated in weekly sitting groups with Mary Ellen Sloan.

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Ekyo will be remember by all for her kindness and compassion, her example of forgiveness and quiet perseverance, her beautiful smile and grace, her great talent, wisdom and humility.

She is survived by her three children, Kirsten Mitsuyo of Grass Valley, Ca, Yuri Jundo of Paris, France and Shira Yoshimi of Jena, Germany.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Maezumi Roshi, her father and mother, Anthony and Marion Cornell and her brother Leo Edward Cornell.