Ryomo Kyokai

Ryōmō Kyōkai (両忘協会 "Ryōmō Society",^[1] or "Association for the Abandonment of the Concepts of Objectivity and Subjectivity")^[2] was a lay Rinzai Zen Buddhist practice center located in Tokyo, Japan, founded in 1875 by Okunomiya Zōsai (奥宮 慥斎 1811-77), a student of Satō Issai.^[3] It attracted figures such as Imakita Kōsen (1816-1892), abbot of the Rinzai monastery Engakuji, Nakajima Nobuyuki, Kawajiri Hōkin, and Nakae Chomin (1847-1901). Kōsen was its honorary leader but not its founder.^[1]

The rules of the society were as follows:

1. Members could discuss anything they wanted except politics and "worldly affairs".
2. Meals were limited to rice, sake, and three bowls of vegetables.
3. Participants would be honest and polite.
4. New participants would be introduced by an existing member and affirm their vows every month.

In this initial form it served as an intellectual society for the discussion of Buddhism and zazen practice.^[1]

Ryōmō Kyōkai was revived in 1925 by Tetsuo Sōkatsu, dharma descendant of Kōsen. The revival was more frequently called "Ryōbō Zen Kyōkai" or "Ryōbō Kai" in Japan, owing to a more modern kanji reading. A branch was established on Sutter Street in San Francisco after Sōkatsu arrived in America.^[4] It attracted lay Buddhists and probably inspired the form of Zen practice centers throughout the Western world.^[5] However, the Japanese revival was disbanded after World War II,^[6] and the San Francisco branch likely was lost during the Japanese American internment.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Janine Sawada, Practical Pursuits. pp.157-161. University of Honolulu Press,
2. ^ Helen Tworkov, Zen in America. p.5. New York: Kodansha Globe, 1994
3. ^ Constantine N. Vaporis, "To Edo and Back: Alternate Attendance and Japanese Culture in the Early Modern Period". Journal of Japanese Studies 23.1, p. 52
4. ^ Rick Fields, How the Swans Came to the Lake, p. 177. Boulder: Shambhala, 1981
5. ^ Sharf, Robert. "The Zen of Japanese Nationalism." In The Curators of the Buddha: The Study of Buddhism under Colonialism, ed. Donald S. Lopez. Chicago: U Chicago Press, 1995.
6. ^ Ningen-shu History (mirror)