Traditional Soto Zen Service 10:30 AM

Dharma Talk: 10:30 AM

Speaker:  Jiryu Frederic Lecut

Dharma Talk

ZEN & MARTIAL ARTS

Jiryu Frederic Lecut was born in 1957 in France on the English Channel. In 1968, while in Middle school, he started to train in Judo.

Jiryu studied engineering and traveled, worked, and lived in several countries. In 1987, while living in Korea, he first encountered Buddhism. This was also when he reconnected seriously with Martial Arts. He has not quit practicing since.

In 1992, he moved to Alabama, where he lived for 30 years. He was mainly training in Karate when he stumbled upon "Zen and Martial Arts" by Taisen Desshimaru and decided he needed to inquire about Zen.

On a trip to Atlanta in the mid to late 90s, he visited the Atlanta Soto Zen Center (ASZC) for the first time to experience what it was like. At ASZC, Jiryu found what he had always been looking for—he was finally home! he started practicing under Elliston Roshi and received Shukke Tokudo in 2019.

Jiryu moved back to France in 2021 to get closer to my family.

Jiryu has black belt ranks in Karate, Kenjutsu (Samurai sword), and Jujutsu. He presently teaches Kenjutsu and Tai Chi in France, and in a Karate school, he helped open in Brno, Czechia. Jiryu also leads a modest Zen practice in France.

Over the last 55 years, Jiryu has had the luck and privilege of meeting and training under many excellent masters of martial arts, Zen, and various crafts. One of Jiryu's goals is to try to transmit what they taught him.