welcome to your lineage. you are walking in the footsteps ... · welcome to your lineage.!!!!!...

!!!!!!!

Welcome to your Lineage*.!!!!!!!!!!You are walking in the footsteps of the Buddha

and the Ancestors.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*All of these people were real people. They had strengths and weaknesses. They did much good. They made many mistakes. We hold the dharma in our hands because of the sacrifices they made for us every day – without ever having met us – we have a chance to meet them now. Let us open our hearts and minds and give deep thanks for the great gift they have bestowed upon us. They are worthy of our love and respect and our deep appreciation. !!!**All of this material is available to you freely on the web through Wikipedia, Google search and and standard sources. It is collected here simply so you can have a ready reference to the rushing stream you are about to step into.  

Page � of �1 54White Plum Asanga LineageSunday, August 17, 2014

White Plum Lineage!!!!1 Bibashi Butsu Daiosho!2 Shiki Butsu Daiosho!3 Bishafu Butsu Daiosho!4 Kuruson Butsu Daiosho!5 Kunagommuni Butsu Daiosho!6 Kasho Butsu Daiosho!7 Shakyamuni Butsu Daiosho ( 623 B.C. )!8 Makakasho Daiosho!9 Ananda Daiosho!10 Shonawashu Daiosho!11 Ubakikuta Daiosho!12 Daitaka Daiosho!13 Mishaka Daiosho!14 Bashumitta Daiosho!15 Butsudanandai Daiosho!16 Fudamitta Daiosho!17 Barishiba Daiosho!18 Funayasha Daiosho!19 Anabotei Daiosho!20 Kabimora Daiosho!21 Nagyaharajuna Daiosho!22 Kanadaiba Daiosho!23 Ragorata Daiosho!24 Sogyanandai Daiosho!25 Kayashata Daiosho!26 Kumorata Daiosho!27 Shayata Daiosho!28 Bashubanzu Daiosho!29 Manura Daiosho!30 Kakurokuna Daiosho!31 Shishibodai Daiosho!32 Bashashita Daiosho!33 Funyomitta Daiosho!34 Hannyatara Daiosho!35 Bodaidaruma Daiosho ( 5th Century A.D. )!!36 Taiso Eka Daiosho!37 Kanchi Sosan Daiosho!38 Dai-i Doshin Daiosho!39 Daiman Konin Daiosho!40 Daikan Eno Daiosho!41 Seigen Gyoshi Daiosho!42 Sekito Kisen Daiosho!43 Yakusan Igen Daiosho!44 Ungan Donjo Daiosho!


45 Tozan Ryokai Daiosho!46 Ungo Doyo Daiosho!47 Doan Dohi Daiosho!48 Doan Kanshi Daiosho!49 Ryozan Enkan Daiosho!50 Taiyo Kyogen Daiosho!51 Toshi Gisei Daiosho!52 Fuyo Dokai Daiosho!53 Tanka Shijun Daiosho!54 Choro Seiryo Daiosho!55 Tendo Sokaku Daiosho!56 Setcho Chikan Daiosho!57 Tendo Nyojo Daiosho!!58 Eihei Dogen Daiosho ( 1200 - 1253 )!59 Koun Ejo Daiosho!60 Tettsu Gikai Daiosho!61 Keizan Jokin Daiosho!62 Gasan Joseki Daiosho!63 Taigen Soshin Daiosho!64 Baizan Monpon Daiosho!65 Nyochu Tengin Daiosho!66 Kisan Shosan Daiosho!67 Morin Shihan Daiosho!68 Taishi Sotai Daiosho!69 Kenchu Hantetsu Daiosho!70 Daiju Soko Daiosho!71 Kinpo Jusen Daiosho!72 Tetsu-ei Seiton Daiosho!73 Shukoku Choton Daiosho!74 Ketsuzan Tetsu-ei Daiosho!75 Hoshi So-on Daiosho!76 Goho Kai-on Daiosho!77 Tenkei Denson Daiosho!78 Zozan Monko Daiosho!79 Niken Sekiryo Daiosho!80 Reitan Roryo Daiosho!81 Kakujo Tosai Daiosho!82 Kakuan Ryogu Daiosho!83 Ryokai Daibai Daiosho!84 Ungan Guhaku Daiosho!85 Bai-an Hakujun Daiosho!86 Koun Taizan Daiosho ( 1931 - 1995 )!87. Bernie Glassman Roshi!88. Joan Halifax Roshi!!!!!


Our Chinese Ancestors!!!!Bodhidharma 菩提達磨祖師(西天廿八祖，東土初祖） AD-535!!Bodhidharma, founder of Zen in China.!!Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk from southern India who lived during the early 5th century and is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Zen to China.!!Very little contemporary biographical information on Bodhidharma is extant, and subsequent accounts became layered with legend, but most accounts agree that he was from the southern region of India, born as a prince to a royal family. Bodhidharma left his kingdom after becoming a Buddhist monk and traveled through Southeast Asia into Southern China and subsequently relocated northwards.!!Bodhidharma as the 28th Patriarch of Buddhism in an uninterrupted line that extends all the way back to the Buddha himself.!!Bodhidharma: " Outwardly cease all involvements, inwardly have no coughing or sighing in the mind --with your mind like a wall you can enter the Way."!!!Dazu Huike 慧可大祖禪師（西天廿九祖．東土二祖）AD487-593!!Huike also name Sengke(Chinese:僧可), is considered the Second Patriarch of Chinese Chan or Zen and the twenty-ninth since Shakyamuni Buddha.!!At age of forty, Huike met Bodhidharma at Shaolin Monastery. According to legend, when they first met, Bodhidharma refused to teach him, then Huike stood in the snow outside Bodhidharma's cave all night until snow reached his kneels.!!In the morning Bodhidharma asked him what does he look for? Huike replied that he hope Bodhidharma can compassionately teach him the way to "open the gate of the elixir, to liberate all setient beings". Bodhidharma rejected and said, "All buddhas' uncomparable wonderful dharma , must be attained through aeons of diligent practice, experience countless of difficulties and endure all the hardship. How can you hope for this profound and exquisite dharma with little virtue, little wisdom, a shallow heart and an arrogant mind? It would be just a waste of effort."!!After listening to this, to prove his resolve, Huike cut off his left arm and presented it to Bodhidharma as a token of his sincerity. It's said that, only then Bodhidharma accepted him as diciple.!


!One day Huike told Bodhidharma, "My mind is not calm, please help me to pacify it."!!Bodhidharma replied,"Bring me your mind, and I will pacify for you."!!After quit a while, Huike answered, "I have sought for my mind, but cannot find it."!!Then Bodhidharma replied, "I have pacified your mind."!!Huike studied with Bodhidharma for six years, learned the essence of the dharma. Before leaving China, Bodhidharma passed on the symbolic rope and bowl of dharma succession, and also a copy of Lankavatara Sutra to Huike.!!Later , at about AD534, Huike went to Yedu(鄴都, now in Hebei) to expound dharma. But his dharma was contradict to the teaching of other influential Buddhist masters there, because of this Huike faced a lot of trouble when preaching dharma, including encountered assassination.!!It's said that Huike lived to the age of one hundred seven. His dharma successor was Sengcan(僧璨).!!Jianzhi Sengcan 《 Faith in Mind 》僧璨鑑智禪師（西天卅祖，東土三祖）AD526-606!!Sêng-ts'an. The third patriarch in the lineage of the Chinese Zen Sect.!!After Seng-ts'an received transmission, Buddhism was persecuted in China and he spent fifteen years wandering and hiding in the mountains. In the year 582 he met Tao-hsin, who was to become his pupil and thereupon the Fourth Patriach, and in this way the transmission of Zen continued. He died in 606. The Hsin-hsin-ming (Shinjimmei) was written by him.!!Dayi Daoxin 道信大醫禪師（西天卅一祖，東土四祖）AD580-651!!Fourth Patriarch Daoxin (580-651) was born the year before China was reunified after 350 years of turbulence. He is the first in the Chan (Chinese Zen) lineage to have settled stably at the same monastery (on Twin Peaks Mountain) for thirty years, and built a large following of disciples. The new dynasties, Sui and Tang, were both sympathetic to the free practice of religions; Emperor Tang Taizong invited the Master to the royal court four times (which he refused). The next 260 years may be considered the golden age of Buddhism as all the ten major traditions of Chinese Buddhism, including Chan, developed.!!


To set up a monastic system for such large Sangha, Master Daoxin is credited for bringing precepts, other schools of teaching such as Lankavatara Sutra, and the chanting of Heart Sutra into the daily practice of Zen monks.!!Daman Hongren 弘忍大滿禪師（西天卅二祖，東土五祖）AD602-675!!Hungren was a boy of seven at the time, out begging with his mother. Tao-hsin recognized his capacity for truth and asked the mother to allow her son to become his disciple.!!Huineng, in his Platform Sutra, tells of how he came to visit the monastery at Huangmei, where Hung-jen, having succeeded his teacher Tao-hsin, resided with over 700 followers. He described how Hung-jen secretly arranged to meet him one night and how that meeting led to his enlightenment.!!Dajian Huineng 六祖慧能大師-(南宗)（西天卅三祖，東土六祖）(AD638-713)!!One of the most important Masters in the history of Zen was Hui-neng, an uneducated layman who did not become a monk until many years after he was given transmission to become the Sixth Patriarch. Hui-neng's teachings have been so admired that they have been entitled the Platform, although strictly speaking a sutra is supposed to represent the words of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni.!Dajian Huineng: Sutra s -《 The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch 》!!Qingyuan Xingsi 青原行思禪師 (660AD-740)!!Qingyuan went to study with the Zen master Huineng and asked, " what work is to be done so as not to fall into stages?" The Zen master inquired, "What have you done?" Qingyuan said, "I do not even practice the holy truths." The Zen master said, "What stage do you fall into?" Quingyuan said, "If I do not even practice the holy truths, what stages are there?" The Zen master recognized his profound capacity.!!Shitou Xīqiān 石頭希遷禪師-(石頭宗) (AD700-790)!!Shitou Hsi-chien was born in Guandong Province in southern China. When he was twelve years old he became a disciple of the Sixth Patriach, Hui-neng. Upon Hui-neng's death two years later, Shitou practiced on his own for fifteen years and then studied with Ching-yuan, one of Hui-neng's main successors. He then established his practice in a hut on a rocky ledge (hence his name Shitou, literally "Rock") in Hunan.!Shítóu Xīqiān: collections of zen readings - Harmony of Difference and Equality!!Yaoshan Weiyan 药⼭山惟俨（751－834）!!


He first called on Shitou, then went to Mazu, with whom he became enlightened. Yaoshan left Mazu and went back to Shitou.!!One day as Yaoshan was sitting, Shitou asked him, "What are you doing here?" Yaoshan said, " I am not doing anything at all." Shitou said, "Then you're sitting idly." Yaoshan said, "If I were sitting idly, that would be doing something." Shitou said, "You said you're not doing --- what aren't you doing?" Yaoshan said, "Even the sages don't know."!!Yunyan Tanshen 雲巖曇晟(784 - 841)!It is said Yunyan spent over 20 years with Baizhang, but finally attained enlightenment with Yaoshan.!!Dongshan 洞山良价（807 - 869）!Dongshan was a disciple of Yun-yen, who in turn was a disciple of Yo-shan. Yo-shan was first a disciple of Shih-t'ou and later of Ma-tsu, who were said to "divide the world between them," and who worked in cooperation.!After his profession as a monk in his early twenties, Tung-shan made the traditional round of masters. He first visited Nan-ch'uan, then Kuei-shan. At the latter's recommendation, he went to Yun-yen. John Wu, in The Golden Age of Zen, tells how when Tung-shan was getting ready to journey on, he asked Yun-yen a final question: "After you have completed this life, what shall I say if anyone asks, 'Can you still recall your master's true face?'" Yun-yen remained silent for a long while and then replied, "Just this one is."!!While on his journey, Tung-shan continued to muse on the master's words. Then one day as he was crossing a stream he saw his reflection in the water and on the spot was thoroughly awakened to the meaning, which he expressed in this gatha:!!

Do not seek him anywhere else!!Or he will run away from you!!

Now that I go on all alone,!I meet him everywhere.!

He is even now what I am.!I am even now not what he is.!

Only by understanding this way can there be a true union with the Self-So.!!Wu says that the term he translated as Self-So is the Chinese for the Sanskrit Bhutatathata, which corresponds to the Eternal Tao, the Hindu Brahman, and the Old Testament I am That I Am. This is a remarkable distinction, as Wu comments, unlike that of the lesser "unitive" experience of Cosmic Consciousness. While HE is I, I am not HE. God is more myself than myself. This is the distinction between the Atman and the Brahman, between the True Man of Tao and the Eternal Tao.!!!


!Caoshan 曹山本寂-(曹洞宗) （840～901）!!Together with his master Dongshan, Caoshan goes down in history as co-creating the Caodong School of Chan (the name is literally a combination of the "mountain names" of both). He came from the area of modern Quanzhou, Fujian. Named his temple location Mt. Cao in the Fuzhou district after Huineng's temple in Guangdong. Started another temple at Mt. Heyu, and named that one Caoshan too.!!Hongzhi Zhengjue 宏智正觉（1091～1157）!Hongzhi Zhengjue became well known in Chan circles for collecting 100 Zen stories, and adding his own poetic verses to each. Later, a Chan master named Wansong Xingxiu added extensive commentaries to that book, which came to be known as The Book of Serenity, published in the late Song Dynasty of China. Wansong refers in this book to Hongzhi as "Tiantong", another name that he used.!Hongzhi Zhengjue : collections of zen readings - Guidepost of Silent Illumination , The Needle of Zazen .!!Tiāntóng Rújìng 天童如净禅师（1163－1228）!Tiāntóng Rújìng (天童如淨) was a Caodong Buddhist monk living in Jingde Temple（景德寺） on Tiāntóng Mountain (天童山) in Yinzhou District, Ningbo. He taught and gave dharma transmission to Sōtō Zen founder Dōgen as well as early Sōtō monk Jakuen (寂円 Jìyuán).!His teacher was Xuedou Zhijian (雪竇智鑑, 1105-1192), who was the sixteenth-generation dharma descendant of Huineng.!!He is traditionally the originator of the term shikantaza.!!!!


!The Founders’ Altar!

!!


!Dogen Zenji!!!

Dogen Zenji, the founder of Soto Zen School as well as of Daihonzan Eiheiji, was born on January 19, 1200 CE. This was during the Kamakura Period of Japanese history, the year following the death of Minamoto Yoritomo. !!It is said that his father was Koga Michichika, a government minister, and that his mother was Ishi, the daughter of Fujiwara Motofusa. Presumably, young Dogen Zenji lived in comfort. However, at the age of thirteen, he climbed Mt. Hiei, the headquarters of the Tendai school of Buddhism and the next year he shaved his head and became a monk. !!It is said that he became a monk because he felt the impermanence of the world on his mother’s death when he was eight years old.!!!!


According to the Kenzeiki (建撕記), he became possessed by a single question with regard to the Tendai doctrine:!!As I study both the exoteric and the esoteric schools of Buddhism, they maintain that human beings are endowed with Dharma-nature by birth. If this is the case, why did the Buddhas of all ages — undoubtedly in possession of enlightenment — find it necessary to seek enlightenment and engage in spiritual practice?!!This question was, in large part, prompted by the Tendai concept of original enlightenment (本覚 hongaku), which states that all human beings are enlightened by nature and that, consequently, any notion of achieving enlightenment through practice is fundamentally flawed.!!The Kenzeiki further states that he found no answer to his question at Mount Hiei, and that he was disillusioned by the internal politics and need for social prominence for advancement. Therefore, Dōgen left to seek an answer from other Buddhist masters. He went to visit Kōin, the Tendai abbot of Onjō-ji Temple (園城寺), asking him this same question. Kōin said that, in order to find an answer, he might want to consider studying Chán in China.!!In 1217, two years after the death of contemporary Zen Buddhist Myōan Eisai, Dōgen went to study at Kennin-ji Temple (建仁寺).In 1223, Dōgen and Myōzen undertook the dangerous passage across the East China Sea to China to study in Jing-de-si (Ching-te-ssu, 景德寺) monastery as Eisai had once done.!! In China, Dōgen first went to the leading Chan monasteries in Zhèjiāng province. At the time, most Chan teachers based their training around the use of gōng-àns (Japanese: kōan). Though Dōgen assiduously studied the kōans, he became disenchanted with the heavy emphasis laid upon them, and wondered why the sutras were not studied more. !!At one point, owing to this disenchantment, Dōgen even refused Dharma transmission from a teacher. Then, in 1225, he decided to visit a master named Rújìng (如淨; J. Nyōjo), the thirteenth patriarch of the Cáodòng (J. Sōtō) lineage of Zen Buddhism, at Mount Tiāntóng (天童山 Tiāntóngshān; J. Tendōzan) in Níngbō. Rujing was reputed to have a style of Chan that was different from the other masters whom Dōgen had thus far encountered. In later writings, Dōgen referred to Rujing as "the Old Buddha". Additionally he affectionately described both Rujing and Myōzen as senshi (先師?, "Former Teacher”).!!Under Rujing, Dōgen realized liberation of body and mind upon hearing the master say, "Cast off body and mind" (身心脱落 shēn xīn tuō luò). This phrase would continue to  


have great importance to Dōgen throughout his life, and can be found scattered throughout his writings, as—for example—in a famous section of his "Genjōkōan" (現成公案):!!To study the Way is to study the Self. To study the Self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things of the universe. To be enlightened by all things of the universe is to cast off the body and mind of the self as well as those of others. Even the traces of enlightenment are wiped out, and life with traceless enlightenment goes on forever and ever. !!Myōzen died shortly after Dōgen arrived at Mount Tiantong. In 1227, Dōgen received Dharma transmission and inka from Rujing, and remarked on how he had finally settled his "life's quest of the great matter".[8]!!Dōgen returned to Japan in 1227 or 1228, going back to stay at Kennin-ji, where he had trained previously. Among his first actions upon returning was to write down the Fukan Zazengi (普観坐禅儀; "Universally Recommended Instructions for Zazen"), a short text emphasizing the importance of and giving instructions for zazen, or sitting meditation.!!However, tension soon arose as the Tendai community began taking steps to suppress both Zen and Jōdo Shinshū, the new forms of Buddhism in Japan. In the face of this tension, Dōgen left the Tendai dominion of Kyōto in 1230, settling instead in an abandoned temple in what is today the city of Uji, south of Kyōto.!!In 1233, Dōgen founded the Kannon-dōri-in[10] in Uji as a small center of practice. He later expanded this temple into the Kōshō-hōrinji Temple (興聖法林寺).!In 1243, Hatano Yoshishige (波多野義重) offered to relocate Dōgen's community to Echizen province, far to the north of Kyōto. Dōgen accepted because of the ongoing tension with the Tendai community, and the growing competition of the Rinzai-school.!!His followers built a comprehensive center of practice there, calling it Daibutsu Temple (Daibutsu-ji, 大仏寺). While the construction work was going on, Dōgen would live and teach at Yoshimine-dera Temple (Kippō-ji, 吉峯寺), which is located close to Daibutsu-ji. During his stay at Kippō-ji, Dōgen "fell into a depression". It marked a turning point in his life, giving way to "rigorous critique of Rinzai Zen". He critizised Dahui Zonggao, the most influential figure of Song Dynasty Chán.!In 1246, Dōgen renamed Daibutsu-ji, calling it Eihei-ji. This temple remains one of the two head temples of Sōtō Zen in Japan today, the other beingSōji-ji.!!Dōgen spent the remainder of his life teaching and writing at Eihei-ji. In 1247, the newly installed shōgun's regent, Hōjō Tokiyori, invited Dōgen to come to Kamakura to teach him. Dōgen made the rather long journey east to provide the shōgun with lay ordination, and then returned to Eihei-ji in 1248. In the autumn of 1252, Dōgen fell ill, and soon

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showed no signs of recovering. He presented his robes to his main apprentice, Koun Ejō (孤雲懐弉), making him the abbot of Eihei-ji.!!!At Hatano Yoshishige's invitation, Dōgen left for Kyōto in search of a remedy for his illness. In 1253, soon after arriving in Kyōto, Dōgen died. Shortly before his death, he had written a death poem:!!

Fifty-four years lighting up the sky.!A quivering leap smashes a billion worlds.!

Hah!!Entire body looks for nothing.!

Living, I plunge into Yellow Springs.!!!Dōgen often stressed the critical importance of zazen, or sitting meditation as the central practice of Buddhism. He considered zazen to be identical to studying Zen. This is pointed out clearly in the first sentence of the 1243 instruction manual "Zazen-gi" (坐禪儀; "Principles of Zazen"): "Studying Zen ... is zazen”.!!Dōgen taught zazen to everyone, even for the laity, male or female and including all social classes. In referring to zazen, Dōgen is most often referring specifically to shikantaza, roughly translatable as "nothing but precisely sitting", which is a kind of sitting meditation in which the meditator sits "in a state of brightly alert attention that is free of thoughts, directed to no object, and attached to no particular content”. In his Fukanzazengi, Dōgen wrote:!!For zazen, a quiet room is suitable. Eat and drink moderately. Cast aside all involvements and cease all affairs. Do not think good or bad. Do not administer pros and cons. Cease all the movements of the conscious mind, the gauging of all thoughts and views. Have no designs on becoming a Buddha. Zazen has nothing whatever to do with sitting or lying down."!Dōgen called this zazen practice "without thinking" (hi-shiryo) in which one is simply aware of things as they are, beyond thinking and not-thinking - the active effort not to think.!!The correct mental attitude for zazen according to Dōgen is one of effortless non-striving, this is because for Dōgen, enlightenment is already always present.!!!The primary concept underlying Dōgen's Zen practice is "oneness of practice-enlightenment" (修證一如 shushō-ittō / shushō-ichinyo).!!


For Dōgen, the practice of zazen and the experience of enlightenment were one and the same. This point was succinctly stressed by Dōgen in the Fukan Zazengi, the first text that he composed upon his return to Japan from China:!!To practice the Way singleheartedly is, in itself, enlightenment. There is no gap between practice and enlightenment or zazen and daily life. !!Earlier in the same text, the basis of this identity is explained in more detail:!!Zazen is not "step-by-step meditation". Rather it is simply the easy and pleasant practice of a Buddha, the realization of the Buddha's Wisdom. The Truth appears, there being no delusion. If you understand this, you are completely free, like a dragon that has obtained water or a tiger that reclines on a mountain. The supreme Law will then appear of itself, and you will be free of weariness and confusion.!!The "oneness of practice-enlightenment" was also a point stressed in the Bendōwa (弁道話 "A Talk on the Endeavor of the Path") of 1231:!!Thinking that practice and enlightenment are not one is no more than a view that is outside the Way. In buddha-dharma [i.e. Buddhism], practice and enlightenment are one and the same. Because it is the practice of enlightenment, a beginner's wholehearted practice of the Way is exactly the totality of original enlightenment. For this reason, in conveying the essential attitude for practice, it is taught not to wait for enlightenment outside practice.!!For Dōgen, Buddha-nature or Busshō (佛性) is the nature of reality and all Being. In the Shōbōgenzō, Dōgen writes that "whole-being is the Buddha-nature" and that even inanimate things (grass, trees, etc.) are an expression of Buddha-nature. He rejected any view that saw Buddha-nature as a permanent, substantial inner self or ground. Dōgen held that Buddha-nature was "vast emptiness", "the world of becoming" and that "impermanence is in itself Buddha-nature”.!!According to Dōgen:!!Therefore, the very impermanency of grass and tree, thicket and forest is the Buddha nature. The very impermanency of men and things, body and mind, is the Buddha nature. Nature and lands, mountains and rivers, are impermanent because they are the Buddha nature. Supreme and complete enlightenment, because it is impermanent, is the Buddha nature. !!Time-Being!Dōgen's conception of Time-Being (Uji, 有時) is an essential element of his metaphysics in the Shōbōgenzō. According to Dōgen "Uji" here means time itself is being, and all


being is time." Uji is all the changing and dynamic activities that exist as the flow of becoming, all beings in the entire world are time.!!Universally Recommended Instructions for Zazen (普勧坐禅儀,fukan zazengi)!While it was customary for Buddhist works to be written in Chinese, Dōgen often wrote in Japanese, conveying the essence of his thought in a style that was at once concise, compelling, and inspiring. A master stylist, Dōgen is noted not only for his prose, but also for his poetry (in Japanese waka style and various Chinese styles). Dōgen's use of language is unconventional by any measure. According to Dōgen scholarSteven Heine: "Dogen's poetic and philosophical works are characterized by a continual effort to express the inexpressible by perfecting imperfectable speech through the creative use of wordplay, neologism, and lyricism, as well as the recasting of traditional expressions".!!Dōgen's masterpiece is the Shōbōgenzō, talks and writings—collected together in ninety-five fascicles. The topics range from monastic practice, to the equality of women and men, to the philosophy of language, being, and time. In the work, as in his own life, Dōgen emphasized the absolute primacy of shikantaza and the inseparability of practice and enlightenment.!!!Dōgen also compiled a collection of 301 koans in Chinese without commentaries added. Often called the Shinji Shōbōgenzō (shinji:”original or true characters” and shōbōgenzō, variously translated as “the right-dharma-eye treasury” or “Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma” ). The collection is also known as the Shōbōgenzō Sanbyakusoku (The Three Hundred Verse Shōbōgenzō”) and the Mana Shōbōgenzō, where mana is an alternative reading of shinji. The exact date the book was written is in dispute but Nishijima believes that Dogen may well have begun compiling the koan collection before his trip to China.[27] Although these stories are commonly referred to as kōans, Dōgen referred to them as kosoku(ancestral criteria) or innen (circumstances and causes or results, of a story). The word kōan for Dogen meant “absolute reality” or the “universal Dharma”.!!Lectures that Dōgen gave to his monks at his monastery, Eihei-ji, were compiled under the title Eihei Kōroku, also known as Dōgen Oshō Kōroku (The Extensive Record of Teacher Dōgen’s Sayings) in ten volumes. The sermons, lectures, sayings and poetry were compiled shortly after Dōgen’s death by his main disciples, Koun Ejō (孤雲懐奘, 1198–1280), Senne and Gien. There are three different editions of this text: the Rinnō-ji text from 1598; a popular version printed in 1672 and a version discovered at Eihei-ji in 1937 which, although undated, is believed to be the oldest extant version.[29] Another collection of his talks is the Shōbōgenzō Zuimonki (Gleanings from Master Dōgen’s Sayings) in six volumes. These are talks that Dōgen gave to his leading disciple, Ejō, who became Dōgen’s disciple in 1234. The talks were recorded and edited by Ejō.!!!


The earliest work by Dōgen is the Hōkojōki (Memoirs of the Hōkyō Period). This one volume work is a collection of questions and answers between Dōgen and his Chinese teacher, Tiāntóng Rújìng (天童如淨; Japanese: Tendō Nyojō, 1162–1228). The work was discovered among Dōgen’s papers by Ejō in 1253, just three months after Dōgen’s death.!!Other notable writings of Dōgen include:!!! • Fukan-zazengi (General Advice on the Principles of Zazen), one volume; probably written immediately after Dōgen’s return from China in 1227 !!! • Eihei shoso gakudō-yōinshū (Advice on Studying the Way), one volume; probably written in 1234!!! • Tenzo kyōkun (Instructions to the Chief Cook), one volume; written in 1237!!! • Benōhō (Rules for the Practice of the Way), one volume; written between 1244 and 1246.!!


Harada Daiun Sogaku !

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� !!!!Daiun Sogaku Harada Rōshi (October 13, 1871 - December 12, 1961) was a Sōtō Zen monk who trained under both Soto and Rinzai teachers and became known for his teaching combining methods from both schools.!!Born in an area known today as Obama, Fukui Prefecture, he entered a Sōtō temple as a novice at age 7 and continued training in temples during his primary and high school years. At age 20 he entered Shogen-ji, a well-known Rinzai monastery; it is reported that he experienced kensho after two and one-half years there. In 1901 he graduated from Komazawa University (then Sōtō-shu Daigakurin), the Sōtō university. !!He eventually studied under various Sōtō and Rinzai masters such as Harada Sodo Kakusho ,[1] Oka Sotan , Akino Kodo , Adachi Tatsujun , Hoshimi Tenkai , Unmuken Taigi Sogon , and Kogenshitsu Dokutan Sosan . !!From the years of 1911 to 1923, Harada held a professor position at Soto-shu Daigakurin. A very strict disciplinarian , he served as abbot at various Sōtō temples throughout Japan. In 1924 he became Master of the Hosshin-Ji Monastery. Later he became Master of the Chisai-in, Ankoku-Ji, Hoon-Ji and Chigen-Ji Monasteries.!In 1937, while he was Master of Chigen-Ji Monastery, he lived at Kakusho-Ken Temple as a hermit.!!!!!


!Until almost age 90, he conducted week-long sesshin at Hosshin-ji 6 times a year; he also held sesshin elsewhere. On 12 December 1961, Harada Daiun Sogaku died at the age of ninety at Kakusho-Ken.!!Harada Roshi's teaching integrated the Rinzai use of Kōan , a practice which was abolished in the Soto-school in the 19th century under influence of Gento Sokuchu (1729–1807).[2] He also departed from the Sōtō conventions of his day by training lay persons with monks rather than separately.!!His best-known heir was Hakuun Yasutani Rōshi, a Sōtō monk who he also trained in koan study. This led ultimately to the spread of combined Sōtō and Rinzai methods by the Sanbo Kyodan , a new Zen sect founded by Yasutani which became very influential in the West. !!Harada himself, however, remained within the Sōtō sect. It is often claimed in the West that he received Rinzai inka shomei (dharma transmission) from Dokutan Rōshi. Harada Rōshi may be viewed as an eclectically talented Sōtō teacher who did not abide by sectarian boundaries in regard to practice method.!!He was one of the greatest masters of the twentieth century. He studied under the masters of both the Rinzai and Soto Zen traditions, for which reason his teachings are rightly believed to combine both lineages. Harada Daiun Sogaku revitalized the practice of Zen koans, which actually constituted a core element of the Soto Zen School.!!Harada has been criticized for his support of the Japanese War-endeavors.!!Among the many renowned Zen masters directly descended from his lineage, some of them western, we may count Yasutani Roshi, Maezumi Roshi, Aikten Roshi, Tetsugen Glassman Roshi, and Tetsugen Serra Roshi.!!Harada Daiun Sogaku is one of the few masters officially acknowledged by all as Master of both the Soto Zen and the Rinzai Zen Schools. !!! !

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Kuroda, Baian Hakujun!

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!Baian Hakujun Kuroda (March 15, 1898 — 1978) was a prominent Sōtō Zen priest and the father of the late Taizan Maezumi Roshi. Kuroda was a dharma successor of Rev. Guhaku Daiosho, who died in 1928. In 1922 he was installed by the Sōtō-shu as Abbot of Koshin-ji in Otawara City, Tochigi Prefecture, which had been in a terrible fire years earlier in 1908. In 1923 he helped rebuild the temple and also graduated from Nihon University with a B.A. from the Science of Religion department.!

Kuroda had eight sons, his first dying in childhood in 1926, with Maezumi Roshi (born Hirotaka Maezumi in 1931) taking on the last name of his mother, to carry on her family name. In 1947 he was installed as a member of the Assembly of the Sōtō-shu and, in 1949, he established the Koshin-ji Foundation (Gojikai), designed to support Koshin-ji financially. He built the temple Nasu-dera that same year and, in 1955, constructed Kirigaya-ji in Tokyo.!

He served as Vice-director, Adviser, and Chief Adviser of Soji-jiin his lifetime, one of the two main Sōtō-shu training monasteries in Japan. In 1965 he served as Secretariat-President of the Japan Buddhist Federation and, in 1966, as President of the Japanese Association of Religious Organizations. In 1969 he was installed as Head of the Judiciary of the Soto School and also built another temple, Zenkoji-j, in Yokohama. He was also installed as Director of the International Buddhist Brotherhood Association that year and received the rank of Daikyoshi, the highest priestly rank in the Sōtō-shu.!

In 1970 he established Busshin-ji (Zen Center of Los Angeles) in Los Angeles, California. The founding Abbot was his son, Taizan Maezumi Roshi. He was installed as chairman of the Komazawa Society that same year. In 1978 he was installed as as Todo (Honorable Abbot) of Koshin-ji before passing away at the age of 81. In 1979 he received the posthumous title Seido from Soji-ji monastery.!


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YASUTANI HAKUUN ROSHI!(1885-1973)!!!

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� !YASUTANI HAKUUN ROSHI!

(1885-1973)!!!!Japanese Zen Master Yasutani Hakunn Roshi was born in 1885 to a family of meager means, soon being adopted into another family. At the age of five his head was shaved symbolizing Buddhist monkhood and sent to a Rinzai temple, Fukuji-in, located on the coast at the foot of Mount Fuji near the city of Numazu. At the age of eleven he moved to a second nearby Rinzai temple, Daichu-ji. A little over a year later, following an altercation with a fellow student, he moved to a Soto temple, Teishin-ji, studying under Yasutani Ryogi, from which he took his name. At age sixteen he went to Denshin-ji temple, also Soto sect, in Shimoda, some seventy-five miles away on the tip of the Izu peninsula to continue study and serve as an attendent to Nishiari Bokusan Zenji!!Throughout his twenties, thirties, and up to age forty Yasutani continued his studies and training in Japan, travelling from temple to temple studying under a variety of Buddhist priests and Zen masters searching for the Truth. At age thirty Yasutani married and, although a priest, because no temple was avaiable, began a ten year career as an elementary teacher and principal. In the interim he had five children.!!Even though married and teaching at the elementary level he continued to travel and study under various masters throughout his tenure searching for a genuine master. In 1925, at age forty, he found his master, giving up his teaching and principalship to become a fulltime Soto sect priest at the Hosshin-ji Temple under the great Zen master of both Soto and Rinzai linage, Harada Daiun Sogaku Roshi.!!


Two years later under Harada's auspices he attained Kensho. Sixteen years after that, on April 8th, the day Japanese traditionally recognize Buddha's birthday, 1943, at age fifty-eight, Yasutani received Inka Shomei, the Seal of Transmission.!!Starting in the summer of 1962 Yasutani Roshi made the first of six trips to the United States, continuing to do so basically yearly up through 1969. On the first visit in 1962 he conducted four to seven day sesshins in Honolulu, Hawaii; Los Angeles and Claremont, California; Wallingford, Pennsylvania; New York, New York; Boston, Massachusetts; and Washington, D.C. His following five visits to America were similar in scope.!!What sets Yasutani Roshi apart from other contemporary Zen masters was his fervent, almost zealous drive to synthesize what he considered the strengths and best of the Soto and Rinzai sects, in the process creating a new linage of Zen called Sanbo Kyodan, 'The Fellowship of the Three Treasures,' emphasizing both the Koan AND Kensho backed by Zazan and Shikantaza. For the west, that is, primarily the English speaking countries, on the popular level, Yasutani Roshi is one of perhaps two of the most influential personages in modern Zen, the other being D.T. Suzuki. Yasutani's initial hard core 'Three Treasures' converts have gone on to establish and promote many highly successful Zen centers and Zendos throughout the U.S. and the world under the Diamond Sangha banner.!!Yasutani Hakuun Roshi's early background sheds some interesting light on his subsequent development. There is a miraculous story about his birth: !!His mother had already decided that her next son would be a priest when she was given a bead off a rosary by a nun who instructed her to swallow it for a safe childbirth. When he was born his left hand was tightly clasped around that same bead. By his own reckoning, "your life . . . flows out of time much earlier than what begins at your own conception. Your life seeks your parents." "It is as if I jumped right into this situation since while I was still in her womb my mother was contemplating my priesthood." When he studied biology in school this story seemed ridiculous, but later he wrote, "Now, practicing the Buddha Way more and more, understanding many more channels of the Buddha Way, I realize that it is not so strange but quite natural. My mother wanted me to become a priest, and because I was conceived in that wish and because I too desired the priesthood, the juzu [rosary bead] expressed that karmic relation. There is, indeed, a powerful connecting force between events. We may not understand it scientifically, but spiritually we know it is so." So, in time he came to fully accept this story and treat it as a concrete symbol of "his deep Dharma affinity."!!To Yasutani's opinion Sōtō Zen practice in Japan had become rather methodical and ritualistic. Yasutani felt that practice and realization were lacking. He left the Sōtō-sect, and in 1954, when he was already 69, established Sanbō Kyōdan (Fellowship of the Three Treasures), his own organization as an independent school of Zen. After that his efforts were directed primarily toward the training of lay practitioners.!!


Yasutani first traveled to United States in 1962 when he was already in his seventies. He became known through the book The Three Pillars of Zen, published in 1967. It was compiled by Philip Kapleau, who started to study with Yasutani in 1956. It contains a short biography of Yasutani and his Introductory Lectures on Zen Training. The lectures were among the first instructions on how to do zazen ever published in English. The book also has Yasutani's Commentary on the Koan Mu and somewhat unorthodox reports of his dokusan interviews with Western students.!!The Sanbõ Kyõdan incorporates Rinzai Kōan study as well as much of Soto tradition, a style Yasutani had learned from his teacher Harada Daiun Sogaku.!!Yasutani placed great emphasis on kensho, initial insight into one's true nature,] as a start of real practice.!!Yasutani was so outspoken because he felt that the Soto sect in which he trained emphasized the intrinsic, or original aspect of enlightenment — that everything is nothing but Buddha-nature itself — to the exclusion of the experiential aspect of actually awakening to this original enlightenment.!!To attain kensho, most students are assigned the mu-koan. After breaking through, the student first studies twenty-two "in-house"[8] koans, which are "unpublished and not for the general public”. There-after, the students goes through the Gateless Gate (Mumonkan), the Blue Cliff Record, the Book of Equanimity, and the Record of Transmitting the Light.!!Yasutani Roshi has also been criticized for his support of the Japanese War-endeavors.!!As founder of the Sanbo Kyodan, and as the teacher of Taizan Maezumi, Yasutani has been one of the most influential persons in bringing Zen practice to the west. Although the membership of the Sanbo Kyodan organization is relatively small (3,790 registered followers and 24 instructors in 1988), "the Sanbõkyõdan has had an inordinate influence on Zen in the West”, and although the White Plum Asanga founded by Taizan Maezumi is independent of the Sanbo Kyodan, in some respects it perpetuates Yasutani's influence.!!Yasutani roshi gave Dharma transmission to several well-known Zen teachers who went on to play a pivotal role in Western development of Zen practice. He was also an instrumental figure in the establishment of the Philip Kapleau lineage, authorizing Philip Kapleau to teach Zen in the West but disassociating himself with him as a teacher years later. !!The fallout seems to have stemmed from irreconcilable differences between the two men, with several explanations as to what happened available to us. One proposes that Kapleau and Yasutani disagreed on the particulars of how Zen might come to be practiced in the West while the other proposes that perhaps Yasutani was offended that Kapleau declined to allow the Rinzai monk Eido Shimano attend one year. !


!Whatever the reality was, the split occurred, forcing the Philip Kapleau lineage into its own category of Zen in the United States. As author and Zen teacher James Ishmael Ford stated in his important work, Zen Master Who? A Guide to the People and Stories of Zen, this lineage challenges, more than any other, the question of Zen authority in Zen practice and its connection to Dharma transmission.!!


!!!A Short History of the Sanbo-Kyodan!!

The Sanbô-Kyôdan is a Zen-Buddhist Religious Foundation (shûkyô-hôjin) started by YASUTANI Haku'un Roshi on 8 January 1954. !!YASUTANI Roshi, who was born on 5 January 1885 in Shimizu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, formally became a Soto Buddhist monk when he was 13 years old. !!In 1925 he met HARADA Sogaku Roshi (1871-1961), and eventually became one of his Dharma successors. !!YASUTANI Roshi deplored how the Soto monks of the time were preoccupied with superficially carrying out Buddhist ceremonies and neglected the vital practice of realizing one's true self. !!So he left the Soto school and founded an independent religious foundation, the Sanbô-Kyôdan, in order to re-vitalize authentic Zen among those earnest seekers of the Way, who, at that time, happened to be mostly lay people. "Sanbô," literally "three treasures," signifies the three most basic principles of Buddhism: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. "Kyôdan," on the other hand, means "religious organization." In this name, therefore, one can perceive YASUTANI Roshi's aspiration as well as his determination to create a religious community that purely devotes itself to maintaining the true Buddhist Way. !!The genesis of the foundation reveals already that the basic character of the organization is that of the Soto line. But, following the tradition stemming from HARADA Sogaku Roshi, the Sanbô-Kyôdan integrated the Rinzai method of koan study as well in its Zen training in order to bring its students effectively to the realization of their true self. !!YASUTANI Roshi thus instructed a countless number of practitioners both in Japan and, from 1962 on, in Europe and the United States. In 1970 he resigned from the abbotship and had YAMADA Kôun Roshi take the leadership of the organization. Yasutani Roshi passed away on 28 March 1973.!!!


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!Koryu Osaka, Roshi 1901-1985!

Maezumi Roshi received Inka from Koryu Roshi, a lay Rinzai Teacher and former head of the Shakyamuni Kai. Roshi Bernie Glassman passed his first koan (and next 100 koans) with Koryu Roshi and considers him his heart teacher.!

Koryu Roshi succeeded to the Dharma of Joko Roshi, who, distressed by what he saw as the corruption of the priesthood, created the Shakyamuni Kai as a lay Rinzai group based in Tokyo (Hannya Dojo) with a training center on Mt. Fuji (Hannya Fuji Dojo) and asked that Koryu Roshi never ordain.!

Koryu Roshi emphasized lay practice, holding monthly sesshin. A few students lived with him including Hakuyu Taizan Maezmumi (during his college years) and Maezumi’s elder brother Hakujun Kuroda Roshi.!

Koryu Roshi died on July 27, 1985!

!A certain story comes to mind when I think of this man, I never met him, but an older

friend whom passed many of koans with him, recognized him as, ” he was always working on himself, on moment to moment basis seeing and attempting to better

himself.”

!!!!Page � of �27 54White Plum Asanga Lineage8/17/14

!Maezumi Roshi!!

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� !Listen to Maezumi speak to you.!!

!!Maezumi Roshi was born in 1931 to the Kirigaya-ji temple-household of Baian Hakujun Kuroda Roshi, one of the leading figures in Japanese Soto Zen. A seminal influence on the growth of Zen Buddhism in the United States, was ordained as a Soto Zen monk at the age of eleven. He received degrees in Oriental Literature and Philosophy from Komazawa University and studied at Sojiji, one of the two main Soto monasteries in Japan. He received Dharma transmission from Hakujun Kuroda, Roshi, in 1955. He also


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received approval as a teacher (Inka ) from both Koryu Osaka Roshi, and Hakuun Yasutani Roshi.!!In 1956, Maezumi Roshi came to Los Angeles as a priest at Zenshuji Temple, the Soto Headquarters of the United States. He devoted his life to laying a firm foundation for the growth of Zen Buddhism in the West. In1967, he established the Zen Center of Los Angeles. Its honorary founder is Baian Hakujun Daiosho, who headed the Soto Sect Supreme Court and was one of the leading figures of Japanese Soto Zen. Maezumi Roshi established six temples in the United States and Europe that are formally registered with Soto Headquarters in Japan. In addition to ZCLA, these include Zen Mountain Center in California; Zen Community of New York (Tetsugen Glassman, Abbot); Kanzeon Zen Centers of Salt Lake City, Utah and Europe (Genpo Merzel, Abbot); and Zen Mountain Monastery in New York (Daido Loori, Abbot). Affiliated centers also include the Great Mountain Zen Center in Colorado (Shishin Wick, teacher), Zen Community of Oregon (Chozen Bays, teacher); Three Treasures Zen Community in San Diego (Jikyo Miller, teacher); Centro Zen de Mexico, Coyoacan (Tesshin Sanderson, teacher), and Centro Zen de la Cuidad deMexico. In addition, there are over fifty groups in the Americas and Europe that are affiliated with ZCLA.!!In 1976, Maezumi Roshi established the Kuroda Institute for the Study of Buddhism and Human Values, a non-profit educational organization formed to promote scholarship on Buddhism in its historical, philosophical, and cultural ramifications. The Institute serves the scholarly community by providing a forum in which scholars can gather at conferences and colloquia. The Institute also publishes a book series with the University of Hawaii Press devoted to the translation of East Asian Buddhist classics and presentations of scholarly works from its conferences.It is particularly well regarded for its East Asian Series published by the University of Hawaii, which includes works by some of the foremost Buddhist scholars in the United States.!!Maezumi Roshi also founded the Dharma Institute in Mexico City. Maezumi Roshi founded the White Plum Sangha, named after his father Baian Hakujun Daiosho.!!Roshi worked tirelessly to lay down a robust foundation for the development of Zen Buddhism in the west. He ordained 68 priests and gave lay precepts to over 500 people. He transmitted the Dharma to twelve successors: Bernard Tetsugen Glassman (NY), Dennis Genpo Merzel (UT & Europe), Charlotte Joko Beck (CA), Jan Chozen Bays (OR), John Daido Loori (NY), Gerry Shishin Wick (CO), John Tesshin Sanderson (Mexico), Alfred Jitsudo Ancheta (CA), Charles Tenshin Fletcher (CA), Susan Myoyu Andersen (IL), Nicolee Jikyo Miller (CA), and William Nyogen Yeo (CA). These twelve successors have further transmitted the Dharma to nine"second-generation" successors. In America, Maezumi Roshi ordained 68 Zen priests and gave the lay Buddhist precepts to over 500 people. As a major contribution to the transmission of Buddhist teachings to the West, Maezumi Roshi was instrumental in bringing to realization the formation of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association (SZBA) of American Soto Zen teachers. Maezumi Roshi also promoted exchange programs among priests and


lay practitioners between the United States and Japan. He had published commentaries on major Buddhist works, and his collected works will be published posthumously.!!At the age of 64 Maezumi Roshi died suddenly in Tokyo, Japan in the early morning hours of Monday, May 15 (Japanese time), 1995. Maezumi Roshi is survived by his wife Martha Ekyo Maezumi and their three children, Kirsten Mitsuyo, Yuri Jundo and Shira Yoshimi. Intimate funeral services and cremation were held in Tokyo, Japan on May 19 to 20, 1995. The main funeral was held on Sunday, August 27, 1995 in Los Angeles, CA!!!

White Plums and Lizard Tails: !The Story of Maezumi Roshi and his American Lineage !!

The story of a great Zen teacher—Taizan Maezumi Roshi—and his dharma heirs. Finding innovative ways to express their late teacher’s inspiration, the White Plum sangha is one of the most vital in Western Buddhism.Spring is blossom season in Japan. Drifts of petals like snow decorate the parks and streets. On May 15, 1995, in this season of renewal, venerable Zen master Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi Roshi wrote an inka poem bestowing final approval on his senior disciple, Tetsugen Glassman Sensei, the "eldest son" of the White Plum sangha, placed it in an envelope and gave it to his brothers. Hours later, before dawn broke over the trees of Tokyo, Maezumi Roshi drowned. His death shocked his successors, students, wife and children, and the Zen community at large. At age 64, he was head of one of the most vital lineages of Zen in America; he was seemingly healthy, fresh from retreat, invigorated by his work and focused on practice. Recently elected a Bishop, he was at the zenith of his sometimes rocky relationship with the Japanese Soto sect. But before he’d barely started, he was gone.!!Senior students scrambled for tickets and flew from points around the world to attend the cremation in Tokyo. Three months later, at the public ceremony in Los Angeles, Maezumi Roshi’s adopted home, Jan Chozen Bays read a poem to an eclectic crowd of mourners—11 of Mazezumi's 12 first generation successors. including Glassman (now also known by his clown name, Bernie the Boobysattva), Dennis Genpo Merzel and John Daido Loori, plus third and fourth generation dharma heirs, rabbi roshis, professor successors, Catholic priest senseis and others. Chozen Roshi wept as she recited:!!

I knew the watch and glasses!but not the face they said was yours!

there cold in drifts of white flower petals. !!They said it was your body!

we carried in kesa-covered box.!How could I know?!

Before you always carried us.!!Soon they bring us sharp white bone pieces.!


Wait!!Now I know you.!Now I know you.!!

Losing your teacher. Imagine setting sail in a shark-infested, choppy ocean without a ship, without clothes even. The loss of a spiritual guide has sent populations spiraling into a state of confusion throughout history. All Buddhist schools have known the perilous vacuum left by the death of a guru or a roshi. Shi'ites and Sunnis wasted no time starting wars upon Muhammad's death. Sons and daughters battled in the void that Swami Muktananda left behind. The Mormon Church divided into twelve quorums following the execution of Joseph Smith. Even baboons are prone to quarrel when the dominant dies.!!And so there they were, over five hundred students suddenly naked and at sea. Would they sink? Dissolve into other sanghas? Float to other gurus? Or would they learn to swim?!!Taizan Maezumi's own journey began at sea in 1956 when he bought a one-way ticket on a freighter to Los Angeles, where he would assume a position as priest under Bishop Togan Sumi at Zenshuji Temple, the Soto headquarters of the United States. "He came with a mission," says Daido Roshi, abbot of Zen Mountain Center in upstate New York, "not just to transmit the dharma to his immediate successors, but to envision the future generations and what they would need."!!At the time, many traditional institutions in Japan were declining into bureaucracies. Monks survived by performing rituals—Yasutani Roshi called them "funeral directors." But in the West, outmoded models of God and religious systems were being tested by the progressive elite, proto-hippie beats and academia. The Zen stirrings of Alan Watts, Gary Snyder and other early students attracted seekers who, though maybe a bit doe-eyed, showed great enthusiasm for authentic study. "Those days I think Zen across the board was a hippie Zen," says Daido Roshi. "It was more romance and fascination with the aesthetic than a religious calling."!!Many found the teachings of D.T. Suzuki, which lead East Coast scholars to Eido Tai Shimano Roshi and Phillip Kaplaeu. Shunryu Suzuki Roshi was attracting students in San Francisco, but the Zen Center and Green Gulch were still a twinkle in his eye. Southern California was without a major center and without a teacher.!!Maezumi, then only a sensei, was an unknown, but he had qualifications, training and a valuable rebellious streak. He was a product of World War II: during the occupation of Japan, a group of American soldiers used his family temple to house anti-aircraft missiles. He was a curious teenager eager to learn English, and free lessons came in the form of hanging out with the soldiers. They also taught the young monk, ordained at 11 like most boys born into temple families, to smoke cigarettes and drink beer.!!


Maezumi’s father, Baian Hakujun Kuroda Roshi, head of the Soto Sect Supreme Court and one of the leading figures of Japanese Soto Zen, sent the young Taizan Maezumi to live with the famed Rinzai teacher Osaka Koryu Roshi. Departing from his family's tradition, Maezumi studied koans with Koryu Roshi and went on to receive degrees in Oriental Literature and Philosophy from Komazawa University. He then finished his early training at Soji-ji, one of the two main Soto monasteries in Japan. When he received shiho from his father in 1955 (shiho is the dharma lineage transmission that authorizes a person to teach), he became a Soto sensei.!!What made Maezumi Roshi so extraordinary was his official recognition by both major schools of Zen. Haku'un Yasutani Roshi of the Rinzai sect approved him as a teacher in 1970, as did Koryu Osaka Roshi in 1972, both bestowing shiho and inka (the Rinzai tradition of final approval). Transmissions by these three masters—his father, Haku’un Yasutani Roshi and Koryu Osaka Roshi—confirmed him as an independent teacher and dharma successor in three separate lineages.!!But it was the American soldiers and their English lessons that gave Taizan Maezumi Sensei the edge he needed to be sent across the Pacific. The Japanese Mission in Los Angeles needed an English speaker—but not to teach Zen to Americans. "The Japanese community often suffered under painful racial prejudice and wanted to gather together for comfort in familiar rituals," says Chozen Roshi. "They wanted keep to their culture and language alive for their children."!!This meant, for Maezumi, performing funerals and marriages, not formal Zen practice. He dug in nevertheless, enduring long hours at the Soto Mission, completing his own koan studies, performing memorials and services while moonlighting as a translator, writing fortune cookies, working as a gardener and never forgetting his vow to serve the dharma.!!By the late 1960s, American students in Los Angeles started sniffing around Little Tokyo for a teacher. People like Bernie Glassman (then an aeronautical engineer at McDonnell-Douglas) and Charlotte Joko Beck had already tasted what Zen practice had to offer, but were seeking direct, ongoing contact with a master. Maezumi Sensei, though still busy serving the Japanese community, answered the call.!!He began holding gatherings in a room at the temple. His orientation towards zazen, sitting practice, set him apart from the bishops who ministered to the Japanese congregation. Maezumi Roshi's style was warm, dynamic and direct. He lettered a sign on the zendo reading, "If you want to clarify the Great Matter of life and death you are welcome. Otherwise, better get out!" Buddhanature was "so obvious—" he would say, "right before your eyes."!!"He could see through the camouflage of personality and talk straight to the seeker beneath," says Chozen Roshi.!!


"His task was to introduce Zen to us," says Glassman. "We were to swallow what we could, and then manifest it in our way, and spit up what didn't make sense for us."!!Word spread quickly. Maezumi Sensi left the temple and moved to an apartment, then into a house in the heart of Koreatown. He threw himself into teaching. "His life belonged to his students," says Daido Roshi. "He gave himself completely to the teachings."!!Under his guidance a sangha came together and matured. The dilettantes left and serious practioners stayed. What developed was White Plum Asanga, one of the most successful lineages of Zen in the West. Through Maezumi's teachings and transmissions, a community of well-trained yet individualistic students took root. "He had a really great vow to spread the dharma and help people realize the nature of life," says Wendy Egyoku Nakao Sensi, a third generation dharma heir who received transmission from Bernie Glassman. "Roshi was so clear about it that it didn't really matter when the obstacles came."!!From the start the program was rigorous, with an emphasis on zazen and weeklong practice sesshins. The main course was traditional koan study—memorization of and reflection on hundreds of paradoxical passages whose very impossibility points to the nature of ultimate reality. Each koan requires intense one-on-one time between teacher and student; they will wrestle with the paradox until the master feels the student has grasped its meaning, transcended it and is ready to move on to the next. Such immediate contact with Maezumi helped solidify their trust in him and vice versa.!!Egyoku Sensei is now abbot of Zen Center of Los Angeles Buddha Essence Temple, the "mother temple of the lineage" established by Maezumi Roshi in 1967. She says that, around the time Maezumi Roshi started it, ZCLA attracted determined Zen students. Scores of them. The center began swallowing up neighboring properties, eventually occupying an entire city block. Genpo Roshi and Bernie Glassman quit their day jobs and became residents.!!As visiting teachers in Boulder in 1976, Glassman and Genpo Roshi observed the naissance of Naropa Institute and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche's energetic sangha. Genpo Roshi says he parlayed lessons learned from Trungpa Rinpoche (he calls Rinpoche his "dharma uncle") into organized community-building of the White Plum sangha. The LA sangha mushroomed. "From a group of eight resident members in 1972, we had more than 100 people sitting zazen on a daily basis," recalls Genpo Roshi. Though the numbers were high, Maezumi Roshi maintained deeply personal relationships with his students. He began giving mind-to-mind transmission, a tradition that linked his students to the great masters of the past: Yasutani Roshi, Soto sect founder Dogen Zenji Roshi, Bodhidharma and Buddha Shakyamuni himself.!!The LA center was the first of six that Maezumi Roshi founded in the United States, South America and Europe. He was meticulous about following the forms of his


tradition, and this meant getting the paperwork done correctly. He formally registered each center, each dharma heir and every monk with Soto Headquarters in Japan.!!Meanwhile, he was also building his own family. He married Martha Ekyo Maezumi, a cultural anthropology student, in 1975 after two years of courtship. They had three children together, Kirsten Mitsuyo, Yuri Jundo and Shira "Yoshi" Yoshimi. But, Ekyo admits, "his focus was always on his students and their practice. We wanted some time and attention too but it wasn't always there. It was unfortunate, but we all adored him and enjoyed as much time as we could together. It certainly wasn't easy.”!!Doctors often tell elderly patients that having a small heart attack is a blessing. Seismologists consider little earthquakes good news. These little episodes respectively strengthen the cardiovascular system and release the pressure of the earth. This principle could be applied to the White Plum sanga, which in 1983 suffered a crisis that arrested hearts and shook the ground for many students.!!When Maezumi Roshi admitted in public that he was an alcoholic, he did so with deep remorse. But remorse alone could not prevent a mass exodus. Puritanical American idealism with its unrealistic expectations led many to assume the master was above vices. "In fact he was a great teacher with unresolved issues," recalls long-time student John Daishin Buksbazen. "It knocked the idea of the perfect guru into a cocked hat."!!Seeing their Japanese master at a human level forced students to re-examine their own motivations. Why had they come here? Some came to work out personal problems, seeking salvation, seeking answers to the great "Who am I?" and "What is reality?" questions. Others came looking for bliss experiences without drugs. And some were merely attracted to the exoticness of Zen aesthetics and form. Whatever the reasons, suddenly they had to assess what practice meant to them and jettison the rest. ZCLA began to sell off its properties. Many made a permanent break from the group, including Maezumi’s third heir, Charlotte Joko Beck.!!One of those who felt the crisis most keenly was Ekyo Maezumi, Roshi's wife. But she speaks without a trace of bitterness. "It helped the students to see that the teacher wasn't omnipotent and the teacher was human," says Ekyo. "It made each person realize that they were responsible for their practice." Using money sent from Maezumi Roshi's mother, Ekyo moved the children to Idyllwild, a small California mountain community. With time, she gained perspective: "I can take it as a learning experience."!!There were others who felt the same. In a revealing documentary shot by Ann Cushman at the time of the crisis, one student expressed heartbroken joy with his fallen guru. "Disillusionment is great," he told the camera crew. "It means I've stopped being illusioned and from that point of view my relationship with the teacher has worked. I am not angry, but free."!!Genpo Roshi was not fazed. "Many of us were already quite independent, so I think we were not as hard hit," he says. "So much depended on where you were in your


practice. I always felt with Roshi that the deepest connection was to his realization and understanding and that was never shaken by how he manifested in his life."!!Egyoku Sensei found the sangha ultimately resilient. "This community has an incredible capacity to regenerate itself." She likens it to a lizard. "Its tail is cut off but it keeps coming back. That event doesn't define us. It was a pruning. Life pruned us. We had to look at it and ask what does the sangha need to grow again?"!!Like the abrupt removal of training wheels, the episode was scary and then exhilarating. While Maezumi focused his efforts on the Zen Mountain Center in Idyllwild, senior students began fanning out, setting up their own orders and experimenting with the form. "Through training, all the talents and knowledge we had developed for our own success became tools for the dharma," says Chozen Roshi.!!And for the most part, those talents were channeled to serve others. Glassman had already moved east to set up the Zen Community of New York. He began drifting apart from White Plum as an institution but stayed connected to the practice and lineage through his interpretation of Zen as social action. He founded the much-written-about Greyston Bakery and the more recent Peacemaker Order. Daido Roshi, originally a military man and an artist (a student of the legendary photographer Minor White), emphasized monastic Zen meditation and koan study at his center but with the radical change of training men and women together. He also started a publishing company, a prison program and various environmental initiatives.!!Genpo Roshi, once a competitive athlete, was one of the most experimental teachers of the second generation. After teaching in Europe and establishing the international Kanzeon sangha, he settled in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he developed the Big Mind technique, a blend of Jungian psychology and Zen. Genpo Roshi discovered that by asking a few Socratic questions, he could "bring about a transcendent experience, opening up the Zen eye or Buddha eye." It's a bold statement.!!"I am sure this seems like a quick fix and in a way it is, but Zen has always been known as the sudden school. Zen masters are always seeking ways to create a sudden enlightenment so it is well within our tradition to be non-traditional," says Genpo Roshi with disarming confidence. "Zen teachers have always been a bit bizarre." !!"We don't have to all do what Genpo is doing because he is doing that," says Egyoku Sensi, who is busy with her own groundbreaking ideas. "But we can respect and trust that expression and learn from his experiences."!!"One of the things about Zen is that it has the ability to take the shape of the container it is in," explains Daido Loorie. "The fundamental teaching is the same—which is basically awakening and realization—but the upaya, the skillful means people use, changes."!!It takes considerable skillful means to find trustworthy students. The White Plum sangha is comprised of the 12 direct lineage holders of Maezumi Roshi, and all of four


generations of their heirs. Glassman was the first to name his own successor, giving shiho to writer Peter Matthiessen, who founded Sagaponack Zendo. Glassman went on to ordain 16 others, including rabbis, Catholic priests and poets. He sought people who would not emulate him but who could "realize the essence of Zen, strictly realizing and actualizing the oneness of life." How each student interpreted or manifested that was up to the individual. The only constant was an emphasis on daily zazen practice. "But for me that's like emphasizing eating as part of the day," says Glassman.!!About fifty successors have since been named in the lineage worldwide but even with White Plum's annual meetings, it's hard to keep track. Daido Roshi likens it to a large extended family. "I know some of the successors," he says, "but they have successors who I wouldn't know if I ran into them on the street. The one thing that connects us is that we came from the same teacher."!!Naming heirs involves traditional, esoteric shiho ceremonies that take place over the course of a week. Details are not for public discussion. But everyone would say that naming an heir is profoundly personal. "What we are talking about is human experience which is a very difficult thing to put to words except poetry," says Daido Roshi. How does a teacher know how his or her heir should be? "It is like asking someone how he knows he is in love. It is an intuitive sense of recognition. Not so rational."!!"You know when you know that they know what you know," says Genpo Roshi. "You see that they see through the same eyes."!!After things settled down, Maezumi Roshi continued teaching, holding retreats and leading his students to (paraphrasing Dogen Roshi's words) study the self, forget the self and be enlightened by the ten thousand dharmas. "He had the meatiest, juiciest time as a teacher ahead of him, he was reaching a nice ripe old age," says Genpo Roshi. But just when the sangha seemed to be riding smoothly, their teacher let go. On the spring day when Maezumi Roshi died, it was again time to prune.!!In his will, Maezumi named Bernie Glassman as president of White Plum. Glassman assumed the role, convening an annual meeting with all the heirs, seeing to appointments and guiding the sangha, but only until the dust settled. The group still meets once a year, usually in the early spring, but Glassman no longer attends. And while he will always be part of the lineage, he does not consider himself part of the organization. Genpo Roshi is the current president of White Plum. "I think I am vice president," says Daido Roshi. "It's not that formal. We hang out, usually for a couple of days. It's celebratory and at the same time business."!!Egyoku Sensei was put in charge of ZCLA after several bumpy attempts at reorganization. Maezumi's shoes were not easy to fill. "Our founding teacher had died. We had to strip it down again," she says. "We had to ask, ‘What are the ingredients left? What was our legacy? Who is willing to work?’"!!


It took time and a forceful act of nature for Egyoku to accept her new role. In December 1997, a fire started by a space heater in what used to be Maezumi Roshi's residence at ZCLA, where Egyoku Sensei was trying to make her home. Afterwards, a fireman took her to survey the room, gutted and charred. Suddenly, Maezumi Roshi appeared by her side. "Something is gone now," he said. "That's a good thing, Egyoku. Now do what you have to do here." She finally felt a release that allowed her to completely overhaul the center. "Nothing has been left unturned. But someday it will be cut back again."!!The successors all seem to agree that Maezumi's trust in them is the backbone of the strong legacy. It allowed them to own the teachings. "It's not about preserving something, it's about making it grow," says Egoku Sensei. "It was not for him to develop American Zen in the West. His job was plant the seeds. What it would look like, how it would manifest, was up to us. He had tremendous faith in us."!!Genpo Roshi recalls that just before his death, Maezumi Roshi said he felt he was a hindrance to the dharma taking root. "In a way, his death was a gift—it freed us. The ball was handed over and we had to develop new ways of approaching the teaching in the West."!!And that meant tweaking tradition. Genpo Roshi decided not to make any drastic changes for at least a year. "I knew this would be a rocky time and a time to just grieve," he says. "After that I started making lots of changes."!!With Genpo Roshi in charge, Glassman was free to focus on building the Greyston Mandala and his international Zen Peacemaker Order. He renounced his monastic vows and gave up his elegant Zen robes in favor of street clothes and a clown nose. The term "traditional Zen" does not compute with Glassman. "Maezumi Roshi was not carrying out the tradition of the Japanese Soto sect when he came here," he says. "The Soto sect of Japan was not carrying out the traditions of Chinese Zen. You have to be careful with the word 'traditional.' We honor a lot of eccentric people." He likens it to Snow White's seven dwarves, each with his own style. "And I'm Dopey," he says.!!But it is unlikely that Dopey could have established a multi-million dollar commercial enterprise that not only provides tasty cakes and bread but also supports a network of community development organizations. Which is what Bernie the Boobysatva and his successors have done in the name of Zen. Greyston Mandala now employs several hundred people in Yonkers at its highly successful bakery, and serves a few thousand more by providing housing, an AIDS clinic, childcare and other services.Construction on a new $10 million complex designed by Maya Lin is under way.!!Glassman continues to clown at refugee camps, meet with Israel peace groups, and has developed an "internet of activists and activist groups" he calls Indra's Net. “Each one of us is a jewel in the node of a giant net,” he says, “and each jewel reflects every other jewel.” By linking up, "we can be a more active force in social change."!!


The sangha did not sink after Maezumi’s death, it did not dissolve. Buoyed like petals strewn on the water, the heirs of Maezumi Roshi are going their own way—from streets of New York to Salt Lake City to Tel Aviv to an island off of the Dutch coast. Egyoku Sensei, a natural born organizer, has masterfully restructured ZCLA, creating a model of healthy center administration based on shared stewardship. She also introduced a lineage of women to the sangha by researching great female masters of the past, like the first Buddhist nun, Mahaprajapati Gotami Mahatheri, and including their names in the chants. Chozen Roshi, a pediatrician and a mother, has focused on what she calls a "family-style" Zen at her center in Oregon "with an eye on abuse of power and boundary crossing issues." Genpo Roshi recently gave shiho to two new successors and teaches Big Mind seminars around the world. Maezumi's children are also blossoming—Yuri is heading off to study French cuisine at the Cordon Bleu, Yoshi is on the dean's list at UCSB and Kirsten is pursuing an acting career in Hollywood.!!"To me, Maezumi's genius lay in his ability to see the buddhanature and also teaching potential in many different kinds of people," says Chozen Roshi. "There are some Zen teachers who have no successors or maybe one or two. Maezumi was more the Tibetan style—scatter the seeds widely, some will grow and some will not. We won't know for several generations which of his successors have established lineages that will continue."!!What we know for sure, though, is how Maezumi Roshi felt about the dharma. On the evening of his death, in the inka poem he wrote to Bernie Glassman, he said,!!

Life after life, birth after birth!Never Falter.!

Do not let die the Wisdom seed of the Buddhas and Ancestors.!Truly! I implore you!!!!

White Plums and Lizard Tails: The story of Maezumi Roshi and his American Lineage, Noa Jones, Shambhala Sun, March 2004.!!!


!Holmes, Sandra Jishu!!

� !!!!Sandra Jishu Holmes (1941—March 20, 1998) was a Zen priest of the White Plum Asanga and co-founder of the Zen Peacemaker Order along with her husband, Tetsugen Bernard Glassman. Holmes also co-founded Greyston Mandala with Glassman in 1982 (the year the two met) and was ordained a Zen priest that following year—eventually receiving dharma transmission and inka from him.!!Born in Oakland, California, Holmes had a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Columbia University. Through the Greyston Mandala, Holmes and Glassman started up a number of business and non-profit ventures, one of which was the Greyston Family Inn. Holmes served as Executive Director for the homeless shelter, which provided counseling, permanent housing and job opportunities to the homeless of Yonkers. In March of 1998, shortly before her death, she and Glassman moved to New Mexico and began the Zen Peacemaker Order. On March 20, 1998 Jishu Holmes suffered a fatal heart attack and died.!!!!!!!!!


Eve Marko Dharma Talk: Sandra Jishu Angyo Holmes!!Talk in Honor of Sandra Jishu Angyo Holmes!!

by Roshi Eve Myonen Marko!!(This talk was given by Eve in a one-day retreat on March 18, 2006)!!

Today’s talk is a reminiscence about the woman whose picture is up on the altar. Monday will be the 8th anniversary of the passing of Sandra Jishu Angyo Holmes, the Co-Founder of the Zen Peacemaker Order. Jishu was her Buddhist name. Angyo, which means peacemaker, was a name which members of the Zen Peacemaker Order received when they were installed in the Order.!!She was born in California in 1941. She came out East, went to Columbia University and became a biochemist. She did early research in the AIDS disease that was only then being identified and diagnosed. And she was a seeker. At first she pursued Vedanta and followed the teachings of Ramana Maharshi. She went to visit his ashram in India and continued to practice in New York, even teaching herself Sanskrit. Finally, around 1981, she left her work and came to live at the Zen Community of New York in Riverdale. In addition to a regular schedule of meditation, study and retreats, the Community had already begun a business, a bakery, and its next steps were in the direction of social action. That is where I met her 5 years later when I, too, came to ZCNY.!!I remember her as slim, very pale, pretty, dark haired, and overworked. She was highly intelligent and deeply committed to the practice. She ordained as a priest and in 1986, when we started our first social action ministry, the Greyston Family Inn, she was named its director. The mission of the Greyston Family Inn was to build apartments for homeless families, mostly single mothers with children. We lived in the city of Yonkers in Westchester County, which at that time had the highest per capita rate of homelessness in the country. We had almost no money and no professionals in the field. The Yonkers community did not welcome us right away and we were building everything from scratch. It took us 4 years just to get the first housing projectÑ18 apartmentsÑpurchased, renovated, and open to families.!!But for Jishu other things were more difficult. In many ways she was a hermit. She said about herself that she’d always wanted to be a nun and practice in simple seclusion. When she came to live in ZCNY she was thrust into a communal setting, living in the midst of a large group of people in one house. And when she became the head of GFI there were people around her morning, noon and night: not just Zen practitioners like her, but construction workers with immigration problems, the local ethnic community that frowned on the strange white Zen people living in their midst, the creditors who called day in and day out asking for their money, the New York government bureaucracy, and


most of all the single mothers with children, from backgrounds of poverty, drugs and alcohol, whom she was trying to help. By temperament and he was not sociable or gregarious, but rather shy and timid, and often worried that she was not likeable. By choice, she took it all on.!!I remember coming to work one Saturday morning. We’d begun to hire local people in the organization, some of whom never had office jobs and needed training in office skills and equipment. I had trained a receptionist and asked her to make many copies of a newsletter to send out. The following morning I came in to discover that it was a mess. The pages were in the wrong order and they were upside down. I was tired, frustrated and angry. Jishu, who was then my supervisor, was the only one there. I walked over to her and said, “Look at this job. I don’t know what do anymore. How are we supposed to get anything done with so little help?” She thought a minute, then said quietly, “It helps to know why you’re here. You see all these things?” She motioned to the financial reports, construction drawings, and the many files on her desk. “I could do this with one hand tied behind my back. It’s important work, but that’s not the reason I’m here. The reason I’m here is to be with people.”!!I have here quotes from her journals which were made public after she died: My basic form of spirituality is faith in the unknown. I believe that everything that comes into my life is for me to work with spiritually É Zazen is my ideal practice although I have to struggle with myself every day to do it. My spirituality is an inheritance from my father. He has been a seeker all of his life but could never find peace. He could never see that he is everything that happens to him. His whole world seems to be a struggle against the enemy, both internal and external. I find that my own struggles are an integral part of my spiritual path and that my awakening is very, very gradual.!!At some point it became clear that she was on a path towards dharma transmission and becoming a Zen teacher. She had little faith in herself as a teacher; she often said that she was afraid of misleading people. I am trying to keep a phantom self alive and the further I proceed towards Shiho (dharma transmission) the more precarious the existence of that self is. Maybe it has to be killed. I have to kill the idea that there could be such a thing as realization or awakening for me. Everything just as it is leaves me with just who I am, which has never been acceptable to me.!!We can talk about realization, enlightenment, and dharma transmission, but those are just ideas. What is Zen? Life as it is. And as she wrote, life as it is leaves me with me just as as I am: Jishu as she is, Eve as she is, Kiyo as he is, Basia as she is. Can we accept that? Can we accept ourselves just as we are?!!I believe that in the end she learned to accept herself in the way many of us learn to accept ourselves even in the pits of our days, when we really hit bottom. It’s at those times that we look at ourselves and say: With all my faults, with all my failures, with all my doubts, I am a vessel of the dharma. And as such, I can serve. I will continue to have my doubts and misgivings, and I can serve.!!


And she served. She built apartment buildings and day care centers. When we got involved in AIDS work she did the initial research to get us a Certificate of Need from the government. That AIDS center is today a national model in this country for effective, compassionate work with people with AIDS. She began to teach and ultimately co-founded the Zen Peacemaker order. And she did all that with doubts and struggle. And the struggle was transparent to all. When you lead a public life you don’t have the luxury of retreating to a private space and having your struggle all to yourself. It’s right out thereÑthe depression, the doubts, the misgivingsÑvisible to the entire world. And she kept on going. She practiced a lot, she realized a lot, and some of the doubts remained, for that was part of who she was.!!While working with a prison inmate, she wrote: Just as the Buddhist who said to the hot dog vendor, Make me one with everything, the good news is that you are one with everything. Just as you canÕt fall outside of GodÕs loving embrace, you canÕt fall outside the Kingdom of God, which truly is within you. Whether you are in a state of bliss or in the profoundest hell, you are not anathema. All your paths are superintended, you have always been on the Path. You canÕt fall off it. Everything is conspiring to lead you home to experience you true nature. Everything you are doing now, including all the mess-ups and screw-ups and mistakes are exactly the right thing for you to learn what you need to know to move along your path. All the causes and conditions of your unique life have brought you to this moment. And given your particular set of causes and conditions you have always done your best.!!She died 8 years ago, just a few days short of her 57th birthday. Had she lived she’d be approaching her 65th birthday now. Towards the end of her days she wrote: I want results instead of process. What a trap. As I create and listen, I will be led. As I create and listen, I will be led. As I create and listen, I will be led. The process takes care of itself. Just listen. As I create and listen, I will be led.!!It’s so simple. It’s life as it is, and if it’s life as it is then it must be me as I am. I don’t have to add anything extra; I don’t have to worry too much, I don’t have to analyze or plan or think, though all these things have their place. As I create and listen, I will be led. I just have to listen. Just listen.!!!


There Are No Words!!By Roshi Bernard Glassman!!

In a moving personal essay, Roshi Bernard Glassman discusses his practice of bereavement following the death of his wife and dharma partner, Sensei Sandra Jishu Holmes.!!!I follow a daily schedule. In the mornings I take a bath. Then I sit in front of my wife's picture. Sometimes I listen to music. Sometimes I look at the birds outside. I read and re-read the teachings of Ramana Maharshi, whom she admired. I play with her dogs. I read her journals.!!During the rest of the day I work on the formation of the Peacemaker Order and develop its web site. I'm available to teachers and senior students, usually by phone. I sometimes laugh and say that in comparison to the way I've worked over the past thirty years, I'm not doing anything. But when the sun goes down I'm exhausted and I go to bed early. For I'm actually working very hard. I'm bearing witness.!!In March, 1998 my wife, Sensei Jishu Angyo Holmes, and I left our home in Yonkers to move to Santa Fe. We were accompanied by three associates and four dogs. We drove two cars and two trucks across the country, pausing for six hours in Pennsylvania to fix an oil leak in one of the tru

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welcome to your lineage. you are walking in the footsteps ... · welcome to your lineage.!!!!!...