was a Buddhist

Rinzai The Rinzai school (, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng), named after Linji Yixuan (Romaji: Rinzai Gigen, died 866 CE) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism, along with Sōtō and Ōbaku. The Chinese Linji school of ...

Zen master the chief abbot of

Myōshin-ji is a temple complex in Kyoto, Japan, which serves as the head temple of the associated branch of Rinzai Zen Buddhism. The Myōshin-ji School is by far the largest school in Rinzai Zen, approximately as big as the other thirteen branches combined: ...

and

Daitoku-ji is a Rinzai school Zen Buddhist temple in the Murasakino neighborhood of Kita-ku in the city of Kyoto Japan. Its ('' sangō'') is . The Daitoku-ji temple complex is one of the largest Zen temples in Kyoto, covering more than . In addition to ...

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 America in the early 20th century. He was a student of the Zen master

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 ...

and followed him to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in 1906 with a group of fourteen who went to the United States with

in 1906, attempting strawberry farming in

Hayward, California Hayward is a city located in Alameda County, California, United States, in the East Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of 162,954 as of 2020, Hayward is the sixth largest city in the Bay Area, and the third largest in ...

, and founding a branch of

Ryomo Kyokai 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. History Intellectual society Ryōmō Kyōkai me ...

on Sutter Street in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. Zuigan returned to Japan in 1910. In 1916, Sōkatsu bestowed upon him the

Inka Shōmei 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 him ...

. He then spent fifteen years as a missionary in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. Later, he returned to Japan and taught at the temple Daitoku-ji in Kyoto.

Notable students

Among Zuigan's notable students were: * The American religious scholar

Huston Smith Huston Cummings Smith (May 31, 1919 – December 30, 2016) was a scholar of religious studies in the United States, He authored at least thirteen books on world's religions and philosophy, and his book about comparative religion, ''The World's R ...

who studied with Zuigan for fifteen years. * Pianist

Walter Nowick Walter Nowick (January 29, 1926—February 6, 2013) was an American teacher of Rinzai Zen. He was a Juilliard-trained pianist and a veteran of World War II. He studied Zen in Japan for 16 years while teaching university-level piano and voice, th ...

who studied with Zuigan at

beginning in 1950 until Zuigan's death in 1965. *

Sōkō Morinaga The traditional Chinese calendar divides a year into 24 solar terms (节气/節氣). ''Shuāngjiàng'', ''Sōkō'', ''Sanggang'', or ''Sương giáng'' () is the 18th solar term. It begins when the Sun reaches the celestial longitude of 210 ...

, Nowick's Dharma brother, who wrote in "Novice to Master: An Ongoing Lesson in the Extent of My Own Stupidity", who was also a head of Hanazono University. * The Dutch author Janwillem van de Wetering who lived a year and a half in Daitoku-Ji with Nowick under Zuigan's successor

Oda Sessō Oda Sessō (小田雪窓, 1901 – 16 September 1966)Stirling 2006, pg. 50 was a Rinzai Rōshi and abbot of the Daitoku-ji (大徳寺) in Kyoto, Japan, a Dharma successor of Gotō Zuigan. He was elected abbot of Daitoku-ji upon Goto's re ...

, and described this period of study in the book, "The Empty Mirror: Experiences in a Japanese Zen Monastery."The Philosophical Exercises of Janwillem van de Wetering
/ref>

Dharma heirs

Kraft, 20Smith, viiiLevine, 316Miura, xvi

Notes

References

Sources