Zuigaku Rempo Niwa Zenji (1905–1993) was a Japanese

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

master. He was born in

Shizuoka Shizuoka can refer to: * Shizuoka Prefecture, a Japanese prefecture * Shizuoka (city), the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture * Shizuoka Airport * Shizuoka Domain, the name from 1868 to 1871 for Sunpu Domain, a predecessor of Shizuoka Prefecture ...

, Japan. His father was a schoolmaster and his mother was a farmer. After graduating from

Tokyo University , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

, he became the head official in Tokei-in and later studied at

Antai-ji is a Buddhist temple that belongs to the Sōtō school of Zen Buddhism. It is located in the town of Shin'onsen, Mikata District, in northern Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, where it sits on about 50 hectares of land in the mountains, close to a ...

. At the age of 50, Niwa became the 77th abbot of the Eihei-ji monastery. He also received the imperial title of Jikô Enkai Zenji (“Great Zen Master of Compassion, Ocean of Plenitude”). An avid practitioner of zazen, he rebuilt the zendo (meditation hall) so that the young people in training could better engage in this essential practice. His dharma heirs include

Gudō Wafu Nishijima Gudo Wafu Nishijima (, 29 November 1919 – 28 January 2014) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist priest and teacher. Biography As a young man in the early 1940s, Nishijima became a student of the Zen teacher Kōdō Sawaki. Shortly after the end of the S ...

and Moriyama Daigyo as well as several teachers affiliated with the

Taisen Deshimaru was a Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhist teacher, who founded the ''Association Zen Internationale''. Biography Early life Born in the Saga Prefecture of Kyūshū, Deshimaru was raised by his grandfather, a former Samurai before the Meiji Revolution, ...

Lineage in Europe.

Zenji Zen master is a somewhat vague English language, English term that arose in the first half of the 20th century, sometimes used to refer to an individual who teaches Zen Buddhist meditation and practices, usually implying longtime study and sub ...

(literally, "Zen Master") is an honorary title given to the senior Eihei temple (Eihei-ji), headquarters of the

Sōtō Sōtō Zen or is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai and Ōbaku). It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang dynasty by Dòngshān L ...

school, founded in the thirteenth century by Master Dogen. Outside of Zen, he created brush calligraphy. His work was often credited to various

pseudonyms A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

. Niwa died in 1993.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Niwa, Rempo Zen Buddhist abbots Zen Buddhist spiritual teachers Japanese Buddhist clergy Japanese scholars of Buddhism 1905 births 1993 deaths 20th-century Japanese philosophers People from Shizuoka (city) University of Tokyo alumni 20th-century Buddhist monks