Gudo Wafu Nishijima (, 29 November 1919 – 28 January 2014) was a Japanese

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

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

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Nishijima received a law degree from

Tokyo University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

and began a career in

finance Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

. It was not until 1973, when he was in his mid-fifties, that Nishijima was ordained as a Buddhist priest. His preceptor for this occasion was Rempo Niwa, a former head of the Soto Zen sect. Four years later, Niwa gave him shiho, formally accepting him as one of his successors. Nishijima continued his professional career until 1979. During the 1960s, Nishijima began giving regular public lectures on Buddhism and Zen meditation. From the 1980s, he lectured in English and had several foreign students. Nishijima was the author of several books in Japanese and English. He was also a notable translator of

Buddhist texts Buddhist texts are religious texts that belong to, or are associated with, Buddhism and Schools of Buddhism, its traditions. There is no single textual collection for all of Buddhism. Instead, there are three main Buddhist Canons: the Pāli C ...

: working with student and Dharma heir Mike Chodo Cross, Nishijima compiled one of three complete English versions of

Dōgen was a Japanese people, Japanese Zen Buddhism, Buddhist Bhikkhu, monk, writer, poet, philosopher, and founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan. He is also known as Dōgen Kigen (), Eihei Dōgen (), Kōso Jōyō Daishi (), and Busshō Dent� ...

's ninety-five-fascicle ''Kana Shobogenzo''; he also translated Dogen's '' Shinji Shōbōgenzō''. He also published an English translation of

Nagarjuna Nāgārjuna (Sanskrit: नागार्जुन, ''Nāgārjuna''; ) was an Indian monk and Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhist Philosophy, philosopher of the Madhyamaka (Centrism, Middle Way) school. He is widely considered one of the most importa ...

's ''

Fundamental Verses of the Middle Way Fundamental may refer to: * Foundation of reality * Fundamental frequency, as in music or phonetics, often referred to as simply a "fundamental" * Fundamentalism, the belief in, and usually the strict adherence to, the simple or "fundamental" idea ...

'' (). In 2007, Nishijima and a group of his students organized as the Dogen Sangha International. In April 2012, the president of the organization,

Brad Warner Brad Warner (born March 5, 1964) is an American Sōtō, Sōtō Zen teacher, author, blogger, documentarian and punk rock bass guitarist. Biography Brad Warner was born in Hamilton, Ohio, in 1964. His family traveled for his father's job and Warn ...

, dissolved it subsequent to Nishijima's death.

Three philosophies and one reality

While studying the ''Shōbōgenzō'', Nishijima developed a theory he called "three philosophies and one reality," which presents his distinctive interpretation of the

Four Noble Truths In Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths (; ; "The Four Arya (Buddhism), arya satya") are "the truths of the noble one (the Buddha)," a statement of how things really are (Three marks of existence, the three marks of existence) when they are seen co ...

as well as explaining the structure of Dogen's writing. According to Nishijima, Dōgen carefully constructed the ''Shōbōgenzō'' according to a fourfold structure, in which he described each issue from four different perspectives. The first perspective is "

idealist Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical realism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, spirit, or consciousness; that reality is entir ...

," " abstract," " spiritual," and " subjective"; Nishijima says this is the correct interpretation of the first Noble Truth (in mainstream Buddhism, the first Noble Truth is '' dukkha''). The second perspective is "concrete," " materialistic," "

scientific Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

," and " objective" (in mainstream Buddhism, ''samudaya''). The third perspective is described as an integration of the first two, producing a " realistic" synthesis (mainstream, ''nirodha''). The fourth perspective is

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of everything in existence; everything that is not imagination, imaginary. Different Culture, cultures and Academic discipline, academic disciplines conceptualize it in various ways. Philosophical questions abo ...

itself, which Nishijima argues cannot be contained in philosophy or stated in words, but which Dōgen attempts to suggest through

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

and

symbol A symbol is a mark, Sign (semiotics), sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, physical object, object, or wikt:relationship, relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by cr ...

ism. In mainstream Buddhism, the fourth Noble Truth is the

Noble Eightfold Path The Noble Eightfold Path () or Eight Right Paths () is an early summary of the path of Buddhist practices leading to liberation from samsara, the painful cycle of rebirth, in the form of nirvana. The Eightfold Path consists of eight pra ...

. Nishijima stated that "Buddhism is just Humanism" and he explains Dogen's teaching on

zazen ''Zazen'' is a meditative discipline that is typically the primary practice of the Zen Buddhist tradition. The generalized Japanese term for meditation is 瞑想 (''meisō''); however, ''zazen'' has been used informally to include all forms ...

in terms of balancing the

autonomic nervous system The autonomic nervous system (ANS), sometimes called the visceral nervous system and formerly the vegetative nervous system, is a division of the nervous system that operates viscera, internal organs, smooth muscle and glands. The autonomic nervo ...

.The Relation Between the Autonomic Nervous System and Buddhism
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English-language books

*''How to Practice Zazen'' (1976), with Joe Langdon *''Handbook of Authentic Buddhism'', (1990s) *''To Meet the Real Dragon'' (1984), with Jeffrey Bailey *'' Master Dogen's Shinji Shobogenzo'' (2003) *''A Heart to Heart Chat on Buddhism with Old Master Gudo'' (2015), with Jundo Cohen *'' Master Dogen's Shobogenzo'' (2006), a complete translation published in four volumes, with Chodo Cross *'' Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika'' (2011), with

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nishijima, Gudo Wafu 1919 births 2014 deaths Soto Zen Buddhists Zen Buddhism writers Zen Buddhist priests Japanese businesspeople University of Tokyo alumni Japanese Zen Buddhists Japanese scholars of Buddhism People from Kanagawa Prefecture People from Yokohama Zen Buddhist spiritual teachers