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Kyozan Joshu Sasaki

Kyozan Joshu Sasaki, Roshi with students at Buddhist Centre Scheibbs.
Born April 1, 1907 (1907-04-01) (age 101)
Flag of Japan Sendai, Japan
Nationality Japanese
Title Roshi
Religious beliefs Rinzai

Kyozan Joshu Sasaki (b. April 1, 1907) is a Rinzai priest of the Nyorai-Nyoko sect and guiding teacher of Mount Baldy Zen Center in the San Gabriel Mountains near Claremont, California. At age 100 he is one of the most senior Zen priests in the world, and one of only a few Rinzai masters teaching in the West. Musician Leonard Cohen took residence at Mt. Baldy from 1994 to 1999, and several notable teachers have studied under him—including George Bowman, Shinzen Young, and Genki Takabayashi. Teaching now for more than forty-five years in the United States, Sasaki's name has become synonymous with discipline, and he is known for hosting rigorous sesshins. One of the lingering questions regarding Sasaki's legacy concerns shiho. To date he has appointed no Dharma heir and—despite having made a number of his students priests—nobody seems to know why. Often dubbed a "teacher of teachers", Sasaki has trained thousands of Western students in the Rinzai tradition.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Mt. Baldy Zen Center zendo
Mt. Baldy Zen Center zendo

Joshu Sasaki was born in Sendai, Japan in 1907—the son of farmers—and as a boy dreamed of one day becoming a soldier. Instead, he ordained as an unsui when he was fourteen under Joten Soko Miura—accepting his Dharma name, Kyozan. He received osho (priestly ordination) in 1928 and continued his studies with his teacher at Myoshinji—where Miura was the newly installed Abbot—and later received shiho from him in 1947. He next served as Abbot at Yotokuin until 1953 and then was made Abbot of Shojuan until 1962. In the early 1960s, two American Zen students (Dr. Robert Harmon and Gladys Weisbart) in the United States had been actively petitioning Myoshinji for a Rinzai teacher to start a sangha in California. Miura decided to send Sasaki, who arrived in Los Angeles, California on July 21, 1962—where Sasaki held zazen in a small garage in South Central, Los Angeles.[1][2][3][4][1]

The first urban practice site was founded in 1968 in L.A. under the name Cimarron Zen Center (later incorporated as Rinzaiji), which is now Sasaki's headquarters; the building for the center is a converted church with stucco and red tile in a Spanish design—and it's flagstone courtyard is surrounded by a high wall, separating itself from the African-American community it is based in. In 1972 he established Mount Baldy Zen Center in the San Gabriel Mountains, and then the Bodhi Manda Zen Center in 1973 in Jemez Springs, New Mexico. He has many students that have been ordained priests and, though not one of them has received shiho from him, many have founded centers in Canada, Puerto Rico, Austria and Germany.[1][2][3][2]

[edit] Teaching style

If you want to explain enlightenment, you have to make up a new language.
- Joshu Sasaki[5]

Sasaki has developed his own system of koan study that is tailored for his Western students. Instead of using the standard Mumonkan, he uses his own koans that ask questions related to everyday American life. Sasaki, who some say is very austere and strict, is an exponent of what is termed Tathagata Zen—the goal of which is to help students demonstrate their true nature by using their Zen practice as a way of manifestating of their true self.[2]

[edit] Criticism

Over the years there have been allegations of impropriety leveled at Sasaki concerning relations with students.

[edit] Zen centers

[edit] Affiliates

The following are official affiliate Rinzai-Ji Zen Centers:

[edit] Notable students

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Ford, 111-112
  2. ^ a b c Haederle
  3. ^ a b Boucher, 116
  4. ^ Blumenthal
  5. ^ Murphy

[edit] References

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