When he started practicing Zen Buddhism in 1960 while living in Claremont, NY, Hart said, he studied with Eido Shimano Roshi for about 10 years before leaving to study with another Zen master, Joshu Sasaki Roshi, whom he has worked with for the past 35 years.

While learning under Sasaki, Hart said, he had to undertake a sesshin, a seven-day series of intense meditation sessions and visits with his Zen master five times a day. “They’re not gentle, you don’t get lovey-dovey — they’ll hit you, they’ll punch you, they’ll scream at you,” Hart said of Japanese Zen masters, who in ancient times went as far as beheading their students as a method of discipline. “When Sasaki dies, he’ll be the last of a generation of Zen masters who had life and death [influence] over their students.”

Hart has lectured at the New School for Social Research, the New York Medical Society, the College of the Redwoods, Duke University and Adelphi University, and received an honorary degree in religious studies from the New Seminary.

In passing down Sasaki’s teachings, Hart said, he instructs his own students to adhere to the “four noble truths” that comprise Buddhist philosophy: life has suffering, and suffering is caused by desire, so one must remove that desire from one’s life by following the “noble eightfold path” — which focuses on wisdom, ethical conduct and concentration — and bring an end to one’s suffering and achieve self-awakening.

As he looked back on his 50-year journey to achieving Zen, Hart offered a principle of Buddhist thought that has served him well to this day: “Live your life in such a way that everything you do brings an end to suffering.”