is a

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 (in charge of a temple);''Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary'', Tokyo 1991, honorific title of preceptor or high priest (especially in

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 ...

or Pure Land Buddhism). The same

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

are also pronounced ''kashō'' as an honorific title of preceptor or high priest in

Tendai , also known as the Tendai Dharma Flower School (天台法華宗, ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just ''Hokkeshū''), is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition with significant esoteric elements that was officially established in Japan in 806 by t ...

or Kegon Buddhism and ''wajō'' as an honorific title of preceptor or high priest in

Shingon is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asian Buddhism. It is a form of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism and is sometimes called "Tōmitsu" (東密 lit. "Esoteric uddhismof Tō- ...

, Hossō, Ritsu, or Shin Buddhism.

Etymology

''Oshō'' is the Japanese reading of Tibetan monk (kushok) meaning a high-ranking

monk or highly virtuous Buddhist monk. It is also a respectful designation for Buddhist monks in general and may be used with the suffix ''-san''. According to the Kōjien Japanese dictionary and the Kanjigen dictionary of Chinese character source meanings, it is originally derived from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

'' upadhyaya'', meaning "master" in the sense of "teacher". The literal meaning is "self-taught Buddhist monk/teacher"Oshobob, ''What is an Osho?''
/ref> The Chinese term "he-shang" is derived from the Sanskrit word upadhyaya or acharya: The standard English translation of ''oshō'' has become ''priest'', it has a somewhat different connotation in Zen: According to the Kōjien, the two characters making up the word are actually pronounced ''oshō'' only in the

and

Pure Land Pure Land is a Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhist concept referring to a transcendent realm emanated by a buddhahood, buddha or bodhisattva which has been purified by their activity and Other power, sustaining power. Pure lands are said to be places ...

sects. For example, they are read ''kashō'' in the

sect and ''wajō'' in the

sect.

History

Oshō became an honorific title for Zen-masters", meaning "harmonious respect": An example of its use is in Rinzai's teachings:

Sōtō Zen

In Sōtō Zen, to become an ''oshō'', teacher, two more steps are to be taken after

dharma transmission 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 ...

, namely ''ten-e'' and ''zuise''.Muho Noelke, ''Ten-e and some words about Zui-se''
/ref> ''Ten-e'' means "to turn the robe": After ''zuise'' one becomes an ''oshō'', whereafter one may become the resident priest in one's own temple. Hereby one can gain the highest rank: To supervise the training of monks, further qualifications are necessary:

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

The term became well known in the West when Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh started to call himself ''Osho''.

References

Web references

Sources

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External links

* Muho Noelke: What does it take to become a full-fledged Soto-shu priest and is it really worth the whole deal? Par
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The Formation of Soto Zen Priests in the West, A Dialogue
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