is a lay Zen sect derived from both the
Soto (
Caodong
Caodong school () is a Chinese Chan Buddhist sect and one of the Five Houses of Chán.
Etymology
The key figure in the Caodong school was founder Dongshan Liangjie (807-869, 洞山良价 or Jpn. Tozan Ryokai). Some attribute the name "Cáodòng" ...
) and the
Rinzai
The Rinzai school ( ja, , Rinzai-shū, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (along with Sōtō and Ōbaku). The Chinese Linji school of Chan was first transmitted to Japan by Myōan E ...
(
Linji) traditions. It was renamed Sanbo-Zen International in 2014. The term ''Sanbo Kyodan'' has often been used to refer to the
Harada-Yasutani zen lineage. However, a number of Yasutani’s students have started their own teaching lines that are independent from Sanbo Kyodan. Strictly speaking, Sanbo Kyodan refers only to the organization that is now known as Sanbo-Zen International.
History
Sanbō Kyōdan was founded by
Hakuun Yasutani
was a Sōtō rōshi, the founder of the Sanbo Kyodan organization of Japanese Zen.
Biography
Ryōkō Yasutani (安谷 量衡) was born in Japan in Shizuoka Prefecture. His family was very poor, and therefore he was adopted by another family. ...
in 1954, when he "finally gave up his membership in 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 and professed himself to be connected directly to
Dōgen Zenji
Dōgen Zenji (道元禅師; 26 January 1200 – 22 September 1253), also known as Dōgen Kigen (道元希玄), Eihei Dōgen (永平道元), Kōso Jōyō Daishi (高祖承陽大師), or Busshō Dentō Kokushi (仏性伝東国師), was a Ja ...
."
It is also called the "Harada-Yasutani School," in reference to Yasutani's teacher
Harada Daiun Sogaku
was a Sōtō Zen monk who trained under both Sōtō and Rinzai teachers and became known for his teaching combining methods from both schools.
Biography
Born in an area known today as Obama, Fukui Prefecture, he entered a Sōtō temple as a ...
, a Sōtō priest who also studied with Rinzai priests. Both Harada Roshi and Yasutani Roshi were strong promoters of Zen practice for lay practitioners, and for people of other (non-Buddhist, non-Asian) faith communities and cultures. Their openness to lay practitioners was in line with the modernizing tendency 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 ...
, which began in 1868. Starting in this period, various Zen institutions began to give permission to lay followers to practice Zen.
The leaders of the Sanbo Kyodan were involved in the contemporary social and cultural developments in Japan, which followed the abandonment of the medieval feudal system and its opening up to foreign influences and modern western technology and culture. The association of some of them with the fierce
militaristic nationalism of the mid-20th century
Empire of Japan
The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...
has become controversial. Among
Yamada Koun
, Japanese name#In English and other Western languages, or Koun Yamada, was a Japanese Buddhist who was the leader of the Sanbo Kyodan lineage of Zen Buddhism, the Dharma heir of his teacher Yasutani Haku'un Ryoko. Yamada was appointed the leade ...
's friends and associates were
Soen Nakagawa
was a Taiwanese-born Japanese rōshi and Zen Buddhist master in the Rinzai tradition. An enigmatic figure, Nakagawa had a major impact on Zen as it was practiced in the 20th century, both in Japan and abroad.
Early life
Soen Nakagawa was born a ...
, a strong supporter of Japanese imperialism, and Yasutani Roshi's own position has been the subject of arguments. Within Japanese Buddhism, there was a development of
Buddhist modernism
Buddhist modernism (also referred to as modern Buddhism, modernist Buddhism, and Neo-Buddhism are new movements based on modern era reinterpretations of Buddhism. David McMahan states that modernism in Buddhism is similar to those found in other ...
, but also a tendency to support the autocratic regime in the interest of survival.
Influence
Western influence
Although the membership of Sanbō Kyōdan is small (3,790 registered followers and 24 instructors in 1988), "the Sanbō Kyōdan has had an inordinate influence on Zen in the West".
Westerners involved with Sanbō Kyōdan, including a number of
Roman Catholics
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, promoted its teachings in North America and Europe in the latter half of the 20th century and early 21st century. One early American Zen member was
Philip Kapleau
Philip Kapleau (August 20, 1912 – May 6, 2004) was an American teacher of Zen Buddhism in the Sanbo Kyodan tradition, a blending of Japanese Sōtō and Rinzai schools. He also advocated strongly for Buddhist vegetarianism.
Early life
Kapleau ...
, who published ''The Three Pillars of Zen'', a work of compilation which was largely constructed by Yamada Koun, with help from Kubota Jiun, who together provided rough translations that were later polished by Philip Kapleau, who also wrote some introductions to sections. The three men together edited the book, which appeared in 1965 under Kapleau's name. Kapleau studied under Harada Sōgaku in Obama and Yasutani Haku'un in greater Tokyo in the 1950s and 1960s, but never received formal
dharma transmission
In Chan Buddhism, Chan and Zen Buddhism, dharma transmission is a custom in which a person is established as a "successor in an unbroken Lineage (Buddhism), lineage of teachers and disciples, a spiritual 'bloodline' (''kechimyaku'') theoretica ...
, and started his own lineage. Other influential teachers who studied with Yasutani and started their own organizations included
Taizan Maezumi
Hakuyū Taizan Maezumi ( Maezumi Hakuyū, February 24, 1931 – May 15, 1995) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher and rōshi, and lineage holder in the Sōtō, Rinzai, and Sanbo Kyodan traditions of Zen. He combined the Rinzai use of ''kōan''s an ...
and
Robert Baker Aitken
Robert Baker Dairyu Chotan Aitken Rōshi (June 19, 1917 – August 5, 2010) was a Zen teacher in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He co-founded the Honolulu Diamond Sangha in 1959
together with his wife, Anne Hopkins Aitken. Aitken received Dharma tra ...
, although most of Aitken's training was under Koun Yamada. In Europe, the Sanbō Kyōdan was associated particularly with Roman Catholic practitioners such as
Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle
Hugo Makibi Enomiya-Lassalle (11 November 1898 in Gut Externbrock near Nieheim, Westphalia – 7 July 1990 in Münster, Westphalia) was a German Jesuit priest and one of the foremost teachers to embrace both Roman Catholic Christianity and Zen ...
and others.
Yasutani's lineage has grown rapidly, constituting one of the largest Zen networks in the United States, although some of Yasutani's disciples, and disciples of his successor Yamada Koun, have left the Sanbo Kyodan and started their own organisations.
Charismatic authority
The Sanbō Kyōdan was also influential in introducing
charismatic authority
Charismatic authority is a concept of leadership developed by the German sociologist Max Weber. It involves a type of organization or a type of leadership in which authority derives from the charisma of the leader. This stands in contrast to two o ...
in Western Zen, by its dependency on the authority of Yasutani, while simultaneously standing outside the mainstream of Japanese Zen. It was transplanted into a culture that is unaware of the specific characteristics of Japanese culture regarding authority. The stress on
kenshō
''Kenshō'' (見性) is a Japanese term from the Zen tradition. ''Ken'' means "seeing", ''shō'' means "nature, essence". It is usually translated as "seeing one's (true) nature", that is, the Buddha-nature or nature of mind.
Kenshō is an '' ...
as means of authority, coupled to the primacy of maintaining the correct
dharma transmission
In Chan Buddhism, Chan and Zen Buddhism, dharma transmission is a custom in which a person is established as a "successor in an unbroken Lineage (Buddhism), lineage of teachers and disciples, a spiritual 'bloodline' (''kechimyaku'') theoretica ...
, led to institutional problems when Yasutani's heir
Yamada Koun
, Japanese name#In English and other Western languages, or Koun Yamada, was a Japanese Buddhist who was the leader of the Sanbo Kyodan lineage of Zen Buddhism, the Dharma heir of his teacher Yasutani Haku'un Ryoko. Yamada was appointed the leade ...
died, in the view of some disaffected former members. Shortly before his death in 1989 Yamada Koun passed on the leadership of the Sanbo Kyodan directly to Kubota Jiun Roshi, who was its abbot until 2004, whereupon the abbacy passed to Yamada Ryoun Roshi.
Short history of Sanbo-Zen
/ref> While a handful of Western teachers authorized by Sanbo-Zen left the organization, some 40 or so remain within it, and the institution itself has evolved and shows signs of growing strength and resilience. The direct lineage of the “Three Clouds” (Harada, Yasutani and Yamada) maintains a strong core and trunk in today's Sanbo-Zen. Seeing one's nature gives an autonomous confirmation of Zen's ultimate truth, which may conflict with the need to maintain institutions and traditions. On the other hand, it may foster a renewal and revitalization of the core of Zen teaching, and allow for styles of Zen practice to emerge that are more relevant to non-Japanese contexts.
Yasutani and Japanese imperialism
Yasutani's support for the Pacific War
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...
was criticized after World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The publication of Brian Victoria's ''Zen at War
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 ...
'' led to a public apology by Kubota Jiun, the third Abbot of Sanbō Kyōdan.[Apology for What the Founder of the Sanbo Kyodan, Yasutani Haku'un Roshi, Said and Did During World War II]
/ref>
See also
* Buddhism in the United States
The term American Buddhism can be used to describe all Buddhist groups within the United States, including Asian Americans, Asian-American Buddhists born into the faith, who comprise the largest percentage of Buddhists in the country.
American Budd ...
Notes
References
Sources
Printed sources
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* The Eastern Buddhist 39/1: 61–120
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Web sources
Further reading
* Koun Yamada (2004) ''The Gateless Gate'', Wisdom Publications.
* Koun Yamada (2015) ''Zen: The Authentic Gate'', Wisdom Publications.
* Philip Kapleau, ''The Three Pillars of Zen''
* Peter Matthissen, ''Nine-headed Dragon River''
* Brian Daizen Victoria (2006), ''Zen at War''. Lanham e.a.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. (Second Edition)
External links
*
Yasutani Hakuun Roshi — a biographical note
Database needs some updating.
{{Buddhism topics
Rinzai school
Soto Zen