Ryomo Kyokai
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Ryōmō Kyōkai (両忘協会 "Ryōmō Society",Janine Sawada, ''Practical Pursuits''. pp.157-161. University of Honolulu Press, was a lay Rinzai Zen Buddhist Dharma center located in
Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
.


History


Intellectual society

Ryōmō Kyōkai means "Association for the Abandonment of the Concepts of Objectivity and Subjectivity". It was founded at the beginning of the
Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...
, when Japan started to modernize: It attracted figures such as Imakita Kōsen (1816–1892) (abbot of the Rinzai
monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...
Engakuji , or Engaku-ji (円覚寺), is one of the most important Zen Buddhist temple complexes in Japan and is ranked second among Kamakura's Five Mountains. It is situated in the city of Kamakura, in Kanagawa Prefecture to the south of Tokyo. Found ...
, and teacher of Soyen Shaku), Nakajima Nobuyuki, Kawajiri Hōkin, and
Nakae Chomin Nakae (written: 中江) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Daisuke Nakae (born 1985), Japanese professional wrestler * Masato Nakae (1917–1998), United States Army soldier *Shinji Nakae (1935–2007), Japanese voice ...
(1847–1901). Kōsen was its honorary leader but not its founder. It served as an intellectual society for the discussion of Buddhism and
zazen ''Zazen'' (literally " seated meditation"; ja, 座禅; , pronounced ) is a meditative discipline that is typically the primary practice of the Zen Buddhist tradition. However, the term is a general one not unique to Zen, and thus technical ...
practice. The rules of the society were as follows: # Members could discuss anything they wanted except politics and "worldly affairs". # Meals were limited to rice,
sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and in ...
, and three bowls of vegetables. # Participants would be honest and polite. # New participants would be introduced by an existing member and affirm their vows every month.


Lay practice

Ryōmō Kyōkai was revived by
Tetsuo Sōkatsu Tetsuo Sōkatsu (1870–1954) was a Japanese Rinzai-master. He was a dharma heir of Soyen Shaku. Biography Tetsuo Sokatsu received dharma transmission from Soyen Shaku at the age of 29. There-after he traveled throughout Japan, on "a pilgrimage ...
, dharma descendant of Soyen Shaku. The revival was more frequently called "Ryōbō Zen Kyōkai" or "Ryōbō Kai" in Japan, owing to a more modern
kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequ ...
reading. Tetsuo Sōkatsu received the name ''Ryobo-an'' from Ryoga-kutsu Roshi. He opened Ryōbō Kai for lay practitioners, and went so far as to give dharma transmission to lay practitioners, which before was restricted to priests. In 1906 Sōkatsu traveled to the USA with a group of students, among them Sokei-an Sasaki and
Gotō Zuigan was a Buddhist Rinzai Zen master the chief abbot of Myōshin-ji and Daitoku-ji temples, and a past president of Hanazono University of Kyoto, also known as "Rinzai University." Biography Zuigan was influential in the development of Buddhism in ...
, who would become two of his dharma heirs. A branch was established on Sutter Street in San Francisco after Sōkatsu arrived in America. It attracted lay Buddhists and possibly inspired the form of Zen practice centers throughout the Western world.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. Sōkatsu stayed in the USA four years before returning to Japan, leaving only Sokei-an behind. Sokei-an lived most of his adult life in the United States, returning to Japan only briefly on four occasions, principally to complete his Zen training and receive his final dharma transmission from Sōkatsu. In 1930 he established the
Buddhist Society of America The First Zen Institute of America is a Rinzai institution for laypeople established by Sokei-an in New York, New York in 1930 as the Buddhist Society of America (changing its name after World War II). The emphasis on lay practice has its root ...
in New York City, initially as a branch of Ryōmō Kyōkai; this was renamed the First Zen Institute of America after World War II, and continues to this day, in spite of having no resident teacher. The Japanese revival was disbanded after World War II,Ningen-shu History
and the San Francisco branch likely was lost during the
Japanese American internment Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
.


Ningen Zen Kyodan

Ryobo-an Roshi gave dharma transmission to Koun-an Tatsuta Eizan Roshi, Ichimu-an Ohazama Chikudo Roshi, Gotō Zuigan Roshi, and Sokei-an Sasaki Shigetsu Roshi. Koun-an Roshi founded ''Ningen Zen'', "Zen cultivation of the human spirit". The ''Ningen Zen Kyodan''. Its mission is "to establish an earthly paradise". In this, it sees itself as "essentially different from the traditional Zen Buddhists who aimed principally at Dharma-transmission for the sake of Dharma-transmission". The ''Ningen Zen Kyodan'' has sixteen groups and sixteen meditation centers, and twelve
Zen master Zen master is a somewhat vague 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 subsequent authoriz ...
s, who received dharma transmission from Koun-an Roshi.


References


External links


Ningen Zen Kyodan webpage
{{Buddhism topics Zen Buddhist organizations Buddhist organizations based in Japan Rinzai school