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| Sanbō Kyôdan | |
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| Information | |
| School: | Zen Buddhism |
| Founders: | Harada Sogaku Haku'un Yasutani |
| Head abbot: | Ryoun Yamada |
| Headquarters: | San-un Zendo |
| Type: | Lay organization |
| Founded: | 1954 |
| Lineage: | Harada-Yasutani |
| Notable teachers: | Koun Yamada Ruben Habito Elaine McInnes Roselyn Stone Joan Rieck |
| Website | |
| http://www.sanbo-zen.org/ | |
Sanbō Kyôdan (a.k.a. the Fellowship of the Three Treasures or Three Treasures Association) is an independent lay school of Zen Buddhism based in Japan that practices in the lineage of Harada-Yasutani. Established in 1954 after having parted ways with Japan's Sōtō school, the Sanbō Kyôdan was founded by Haku'un Yasutani and is based upon the teachings and example of Yasutani's teacher Harada Sogaku. Harada was "considered revolutionary in his time because he departed from the traditional Soto Zen teaching method of leaving novice monks devoid of verbal instruction with his development of introductory talks"[1] and Yasutani believed that the Sanbō Kyôdan is "more true to the spirit and form of Dogen's original teaching."[2] Yasutani had "criticized and dispensed with those elements of traditional Zen monastic life that he deemed superfluous, especially the wearing of monastic robes, the performance of liturgies and ceremonial rites, and the study of Buddhist scriptures.His emphasis on a streamlined practice and rapid attainment of kensho was ideally suited to laypeople, and especially to foreigners in Japan who had become interested in Zen through the writings of D.T. Suzuki, but whose knowledge of Japanese was insufficient to allow them to enroll in the traditional Zen training monasteries."[3]
Despite being a relatively small organization of Zen Buddhism in its native Japan, the Sanbō Kyôdan has nevertheless had a tremendous impact on Zen practice in Western countries through teachers who were either Dharma heirs or who had practiced in the tradition.[4] The book The Three Pillars of Zen by the late Philip Kapleau—published first in 1965—played no small role in helping to initiate that impact. James Ishmael Ford writes, "In North America, a number of Christian Zen teachers have emerged, mostly within the Harada-Yasutani lineage. In fact the sole official representative of the Sanbo Kyodan in the United States is Ruben Habito, a former Jesuit and now professor at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he also guides the Maria Kannon Zen Center."[5] As of 1995, the Sanbō Kyôdan had roughly 2,500 members practicing in Japan and 2,539 members elsewhere.[4] Today the Sanbō Kyôdan is led by head abbot Ryoun Yamada, the son and Dharma heir of the late Koun Yamada.[6]
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[edit] History
The Harada-Yasutani lineage, of which Sanbō Kyôdan is the "main institutional stream," was begun by Harada Sogaku and developed further by his Dharma heir Haku'un Yasutani.[7]
Yasutani—a married schoolteacher with five children when beginning studies under Harada in 1925 at age 40—was raised in the Sōtō school of Japan (becoming an unsui at age 13)[8] and also underwent sesshins at Hosshin-ji[8] , became a priest, and did kōan studies with Harada, completing those studies in 1938 and receiving inka from him in 1943 (becoming Harada's Dharma heir).[9][8] An important quote from Yasutani illustrates his philosophy on Zen practice within the Sanbō Kyôdan:
Rinzai and Soto have their respective strong and weak points, but since strong points are liable to change into weak points and evils, by correctly learning each kind of Zen the strong points of both are taken in, and one is saved from the easily engendered short-comings and ill effects of both...Then, each may devise his characteristic methods of guidance without imitating anyone, in accord with the times and adapting to the country.[9]
Yasutani was a priest of a small Sōtō temple located in Tokyo, Japan where he held sesshins—a place where the Sanbō Kyôdan school formally originated in 1954 after breaking away from the Sōtō school.[8] Students who were members there were lay practitioners, with homes in the surrounding area and jobs outside the temple. Yasutani offered these students "the respect and training previously available only to those willing to undergo complete monastic commitment."[9] In late 1961 and early 1962 Robert Baker Aitken and his wife, Anne Hopkins Aitken, were living just outside of Tokyo and practicing under Yasutani. The two had established Koko An Zendo in Hawaii in 1959, which would later become the epicenter of the Diamond Sangha organization.
In 1967 Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi, founder of Zen Center of Los Angeles, became a student of Yasutani, completing his kōan study with him by 1970 and receiving Dharma transmission. Thereafter Maezumi made kōan study compulsory in his organizations and so, as a consequence, the White Plum Asanga of today has many teachers whom incorporate the use of the Harada-Yasutani kōan curriculum in their training regimens.[5]
[edit] Today
In 2001 the Sanbō Kyôdan made an official apology to the public for Haku'un Yasutani's wartime writings from World War II.[5]
[edit] See also
- Buddhism in Japan
- Buddhism in the United States
- Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States
- White Plum Asanga
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- "Chʻan Newsletter" (1979). Institute of Chung-Hwa Buddhist Culture 79 to 124. OCLC 10061102.
- Ford, James Ishmael (2006). Zen Master Who?: A Guide to the People and Stories of Zen. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0861715098.
- Habito, Ruben L.F. (2004). Living Zen, Loving God. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0861713834.
- Kay, David N. (2004). Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain: Transplantation, Development and Adaptation. Routledge. ISBN 0415297656.
- Lopez, Donald S. (2002). A Modern Buddhist Bible: Essential Readings from East and West. Beacon Press. ISBN 0807012432.
- Prebish, Charles S (1999). Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America. University of California Press. ISBN 0520216970.
- Seager, Richard Hughes (1999). Buddhism In America. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231108680.
- Snelling, John (1991). The Buddhist Handbook: A Complete Guide to Buddhist Schools, Teaching, Practice and History. Inner Traditions. ISBN 0892813199.
- Spuler, Michelle (2002). Developments in Australian Buddhism: Facets of the Diamond. Curzon. ISBN 0700715827.
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[edit] Further reading
[edit] External links
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