Daikaku Kongo Richard Langlois (1935 – 1999) was a Soto Zen Priest in the lineage of Soyu Matsuoka Roshi, to whom he is a Dharma heir. He was ordained in 1967 and received dharma transmission in 1971. Following his teacher, Kongo Langlois formally served as abbot of the Zen Buddhist Temple of Chicago for 28 years from 1971 to 1999. Usually known as Kongo Roshi, he also served as the Director of the Chinese Cultural Academy in Evanston, Illinois for 11 years. Langlois was one of the first Americans to teach the spiritual practices of zazen and tai chi chuan which he found mutually supportive & beneficial. He played an instrumental role in determining how these arts would be transplanted from their Oriental culture to Midwestern America. Kongo Roshi, inherited his knowledge of these arts through direct transmission and decades of study with two teachers: Rev. Soyu Matsuoka Roshi and Professor Huo Chi-kwang, founder of the Chinese Cultural Academy.

Rev. Soyu Matsuoka Roshi, one of the early Zen pioneers in the US, founded the Zen Buddhist Temple of Chicago in 1949. It is one of the oldest practicing Zen meditation centers in the United States. In succeeding Matsuoka Roshi as Abbot in 1971, Kongo Roshi was heir to a six hundred year tradition of Zen priests in Matsuoka Roshi’s family.

Professor Huo Chi-kwang founded the Chinese Cultural Academy in 1966. Professor Huo was a master in 5 styles of Chinese calligraphy, painting, and poetry, a scholar of Chinese literature, history, and philosophy, and a great boxing master, renowned wherever Chinese culture flourishes. Prof. Huo was the 16 th generation of calligraphers in a family that has produced noted scholars since the Ming Dynasty. Kongo Roshi succeeded Prof. Huo as the Director of the Academy in 1988.

Biography

Kongo Roshi was born Richard Valentine Langlois in Chicago, Illinois on January 25, 1935. His ‘first love’ was the piano, which he began studying at ten years of age. Although his training consisted entirely of rigorous classical piano studies, he was also drawn toward improvisation. As a young man he worked as a professional jazz musician while vigorously pursuing the formal study of music.

Richard Langlois served two years in the Army from 1954 to 1956. Following military service he enrolled, under the G.I. Bill in the American Conservatory of Music, majoring in piano, where he completed his studies in 1962. His interest in philosophy grew alongside studying and playing the piano. Richard became increasingly interested in Eastern Philosophy. He began his spiritual study in 1956 under the guidance of Swami Vishwananda of the Vedanta Society and continued through the study and practice of Yoga as a disciple of Sri Nerode. Although this training involved a great deal of intellectual study, the main work with Sri Nerode was intense meditation practice. This included the study of all yogas with emphasis on Kundalini Yoga, and esoteric meditation practice.

Ultimately, Richard Langlois’ innate tendencies led him to Zen Buddhism. Zen satisfied an inner urge for a spiritual practice that was more direct, less intellectual, more intuitive and directly related to everyday life. He began studying with Matsuoka Roshi in 1960 and officially became his disciple in 1963. Matsuoka Roshi gave Richard the Buddhist name Kongo, meaning ‘diamond’, with spiritual essence is that of enduring brilliance, dignity, and strength. Kongo signifies the Diamond Sutra and its teaching of the Diamond Sword of Discriminating Wisdom, which cuts away all doubts. Thus began Kongo Langlois’ Zen training under Matsuoka Roshi.

He was ordained a Zen Priest in 1967. In 1970, when for health reasons, Matsuoka Roshi left to head another Zen Center in Long Beach, California, Kongo became head priest in Chicago. In 1971, Matsuoka Roshi gave Transmission to Kongo Langlois. At that time Kongo Langlois become Matsuoka Roshi’s Dharma Successor and Abbot of the Zen Buddhist Temple of Chicago.

Kongo began his training with Professor Huo Chi-kwang in 1966 as a private student. Prof. Huo imparted a thorough grounding in the spiritual and internal connections of Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism, and the Chinese Ch’an and Taoist meditation Traditions.

During his 22 years of study with Prof. Huo Chi Kwang, Kongo Langlois first mastered the Yang Family (Secret/Yang Shao-huo) Style of Tai Chi Chuan. He went on and mastered an extensive list of other arts from Professor Huo. He learned the Chen Style of Tai Chi Chuan, Wu Style of Tai Chi Chuan, Tai Chi Push Hands, Pa Kua, Hsing Yi, Tai Chi Sword, and Chinese Health Methods. He spent six years studying script and cursive styles of Chinese calligraphy using traditional philosophic texts. Through his study of the classics in the original Chinese language Kongo received a thorough grounding in the essence of Buddhist, Taoist, and Confusion Philosophy. Kongo served as Assistant Instructor at the Chinese Cultural Academy for 8 years. In May, 1988, Professor Huo appointed Kongo Langlois his successor as Director of the Chinese Cultural Academy.

Kongo Roshi was diagnosed with liver cancer in January of 1999 and began treatment with chemotherapy in preparation for a liver transplant. The experimental surgery was performed at Northwestern Memorial Hospital on August 25, 1999. However, suffering numerous complications from the surgery, Rev. Kongo Langlois Roshi died on October 28, 1999.

Kongo Langlois Roshi had many Zen students. He gave Zen priesthood ordination to several of these individuals, though he did not give formal dharma transmission due to his untimely death. Current active priests that were disciples of Kongo Roshi include, Suirin Ray Witham, Zenku Jerry Smyers, and Tessen Stuart Ericksen.

Kongo Langlois was also the author of the book, “The Diamond Sword”, which is a collection of his early talks, published in 1987. Work is underway by his active students to compile a complete record of his talks and teachings in both audio and written format.

The Diamond Sword, published in 1987, contains dharma talks given by Kongo Roshi during the 1970s and 1980s. (To obtain a copy send a request via email to Jerry.smyers@gmail.com).

A collection of audio talks by our late abbot Kongo Langlois, Roshi is now available at Northwestern University Libraries. Click Here to access or by going to www.zbtc.org. The Zen Buddhist Temple of Chicago web site has a link to this library of over 50 Kongo Roshi dharma talks.