Iris Murdoch: her interest in Zen Buddhism

Abstract

I interviewed Iris Murdoch on 29 November 1989, and she spoke about having gone to Japan twice in the 1970s. Furthermore, she has a long-standing interest in Zen Buddhism and meditation. She read many books on Zen Buddhism, and she was particularly impressed by Zen Training by Katsuki Sekida. She thinks that every school ought to have meditation classes for the pupils — but then she can foresee the protests from their parents against ‘Oriental influence’ caused by such meditation! She has heard that in Japan even housewives study meditation, as well as the sharp-minded businessmen who are responsible for the miraculous prosperity of the Japanese economy, and she very much supports the idea.