, or Koun Yamada, was a Japanese Buddhist who was the leader of the

Sanbo Kyodan is a lay Zen sect derived from both the Soto (Caodong) and the Rinzai ( 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 n ...

lineage of

Zen Buddhism 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 ...

, the

Dharma heir In Chan and Zen Buddhism, dharma transmission is a custom in which a person is established as a "successor in an unbroken lineage of teachers and disciples, a spiritual 'bloodline' ('' kechimyaku'') theoretically traced back to the Buddha hims ...

of his teacher Yasutani Haku'un Ryoko. Yamada was appointed the leader of the Sanbo Kyodan in 1967, 1970 or 1973 and continued to differentiate the lineage from other

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese Zen traditions by deemphasizing the separation between laypeople and the

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

—just as his teacher Yasutani had done. Yamada was also instrumental in bringing

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

to the practice of Zen that “by the end of Yamada’s teaching career approximately one quarter of the participants at his

sesshin A ''sesshin'' (接心, or also 摂心/攝心 literally "touching the heart-mind") is a period of intensive meditation (zazen) in a Zen monastery. While the daily routine in the monastery requires the monks to meditate several hours a day, d ...

s were Christians”.Spuler, 9-10Habito (1990), pp. 235-236

Biography

Early career

Yamada Koun was born Yamada Kiozo in

Nihonmatsu is a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 54,013 in 20,179 households, and a population density of 160 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . The Adachi neighborhood of Nihonmatsu was the bir ...

Fukushima prefecture Fukushima Prefecture (; ja, 福島県, Fukushima-ken, ) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,810,286 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miya ...

in 1907.Aitken 1990, p. 152 He attended school with

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 ...

at Dai-Ichi High School located in

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, and also went to university with him.Koun, 296 In 1941 Yamada began working as a labor supervisor for the Manchurian Mining Company—a company known for poor working conditions and exploiting its

slave labor Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

forces composed of

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...

POW A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

s and

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

s. By 1945 he had become deputy director of the General Affairs Department for the company.Victoria, 96-97 While working as supervisor for the company his old friend

came to the Mining Company's headquarters in

Xinjing Xinjing may refer to: *'' Heart Sutra'' or ''Xinjing'' (心經), a Chinese-language sutra in Mahāyāna Buddhism Places in China * Changchun, the capital city of Jilin, known as Xinjing (新京) during the Manchukuo era (1932–1945) * Xinjing Tow ...

(modern-day

Changchun Changchun (, ; ), also romanized as Ch'angch'un, is the capital and largest city of Jilin Province, People's Republic of China. Lying in the center of the Songliao Plain, Changchun is administered as a , comprising 7 districts, 1 county and 3 c ...

, Jilin) on behalf of his master, Gempo Yamamoto, in an effort to encourage workers to double their output for

war effort In politics and military planning, a war effort is a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and human—towards the support of a military force. Depending on the militarization of the culture, the relative size ...

Zen training

According to the foreword in the book ''The Gateless Gate: The Classic Book of Zen Koans'', In 1953 Yamada invited

Haku'un 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 ...

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kamak ...

and founded the Kamakura Haku-un-kai. Then, according to

Stephen Batchelor Stephen Batchelor may refer to: * Stephen Batchelor (author) (born 1953), Scottish-born author of books relating to Buddhism *Stephen Batchelor (field hockey) Stephen James "Steve" Batchelor (born 22 June 1961) is an English former field hockey ...

, Later that night he awoke abruptly from sleep and saw the same passage flash in his mind, which was followed by a kensho experience. The next day Yasutani confirmed that what Yamada had experienced was a kensho.

Sanbo Kyodan succession

Yamada continued to study under Yasutani for seven years following this experience, and in 1961 he became the successor to

—one year after completing some six hundred

koan A (; , ; ko, 화두, ; vi, công án) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement which is used in Zen practice to provoke the "great doubt" and to practice or test a student's progress in Zen. Etymology The Japanese term is the Sino-Jap ...

s under him. There is some confusion over the date on which Yamada became the leader of the

: * According to Daizen Victoria in ''Zen War Stories'', "In 1967 Yamada succeeded to the leadership of the Sanbō-Kyōdan (Three Treasures Association), an independent, lay-oriented Zen sect that Yasutani had created in Kamakura in 1953." * According to the book ''The Sound of Liberating Truth'', "In 1970 Yamada Kōun became the successor of Yasutani Roshi as head (''kanchō'') of the Sanbōkyōdan."King, 17 * Finally, according to Michelle Spuler in the book ''Developments in Australian Buddhism'', "Yasutani's successor, Yamada Koun Zenshin (1907-1989), was appointed as the leader of the Sanbo Kyodan in 1973." The date is most likely 1973, however, as Charles S. Prebish writes in his book ''Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America'', It is likely the date is not 1967 or 1970 because Yamada would not need anyone's blessing to go to Hawaii were he already the head of the school, not to mention 1973 was the year of

's death.

List of Dharma heirs

* Robert Chotan Gyoun Aitken * Niklaus BrantschenKyosho no. 232 (1991), Newsletter of the Religious Foundation Sanbokyodan, edited by Sanbokoryukai. * Ruben Keiun-ken HabitoBarthashius, ''Ruben Keiun-ken Habito''
/ref> * Willigis JägerKyosho no. 233 (1992), Newsletter of the Religious Foundation Sanbokyodan, edited by Sanbokoryukai. *Johannes KoppKyosho no. 231 (1991), Newsletter of the Religious Foundation Sanbokyodan, edited by Sanbokoryukai. *Akira Kubota *Victor Löw *Elaine MacInnes *Gundula Meyer *

Ama Samy Ama Samy (Arul Maria Arokiasamy), S.J., born in 1936, is an Indian Zen master and Jesuit priest. Biography Ama Samy was born to Christian parents in Burma in 1936 and grew up in India. After becoming a Jesuit priest in 1972, he began visiting H ...

*Ana Maria Schlüter *Roselyn Stone * Masamichi Ryoun-ken Yamada

Bibliography

Notes

References

Sources

* Aitken, Robert (1990)
Remembering Yamada Kōun Rōshi
The Eastern Buddhist, New Series 23 (1), 152-154 * * * Habito, Ruben L. F. (1990)
In Memoriam: Yamada Kōun Rōshi (1907-1989
Buddhist-Christian Studies 10, 231-237 * * * * * *

External links

of the Sanbō Kyōdan
Mountain Moon Sangha
of Roselyn Stone, Sei'un An Roshi {{DEFAULTSORT:Yamada, Koun 1907 births 1989 deaths People from Fukushima Prefecture Sanbo Kyodan Buddhists Zen Buddhist clergy Japanese Zen Buddhists