Yamada Koun

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Koun Yamada, Roshi
Image:LYamada.jpg
Laughing Buddha (d. 1989)
Born 1907
Nihonmatsu, Japan
Died 1989
Kamakura, Japan
Residence Kamakura, Japan


Yamada Koun-roshi (1907 - 1989) was born in Nihonmatsu, Japan. Yamada was the second abbot of the Zen Buddhist lineage Sanbo Kyodan, a position he assumed in 1970 after the first abbot Haku'un Yasutani retired. Early in life Yamada Koun studied Zen under various masters, including Kono Sokan of Ashina Sogen (Engakuji) temple and Hanamato Kanzui of Mokusenji temple.

In 1950 Yamada took the Buddhist precepts from Harada Daiun Sogaku, through whom he met Haku'un Yasutani. Haku'un Yasutani gave Yamada Koun Inka in 1960.

Yamada wrote Gateless Gate: The Classic Book of Zen Koans, originally published in 1990 by the University of Arizona Press,(ISBN 0816512094) and reprinted in 2004 by Wisdom Publications (ISBN: 0861713826}.

Some well known individuals practiced Zen under Yamada Koun, including: Phillip Kapleau, Ruben Habito, Father Robert Kennedy, Robert Aitken, former California Governor Jerry Brown, Thomas Hand, Anne Dutton, David Loy, Willigis Jaeger, Roselyn Stone and Ama Samy.

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