Split Thread: Nishjima Roshi's Women Dharma Heirs

[Jundo]

*Are there any current modern female teachers or priests who were taught by Nishijima Roshi?

Yes, he does.

Dagmar Doko Waskoenig is in Germany and Austria, and is a very interesting teacher who is very serious about the Vinaya, and became a full Vinaya priest as well in a Vietnamese lineage.

http://www.buddhistwomen.eu/EN/index.php/Documentation/DagmarWaskoenig

and

https://www.shobogendo.de/meditation/#meister

Here she is, I have no idea what she is saying ... except I probably do ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uCozzDFLNQ

One more video, that appears to be a TV profile about her and her Sangha ... she has such graceful movements and form ...

https://vimeo.com/66577611

Taijun Saito is now a priest here in Japan. Here is her photo (on the right) with Nishijima Roshi during a Jukai ceremony.



taijun Saito photo.jpg

Ritsunen Gabriele Linnebach is a very lovely person and priest who translated Shobogenzo into German, and spoke awhike back at the Dogen translation conference at San Francisco Zen Center

http://zen-dojo-dresden.de/lehrerin.html

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shobogenzo-Schatzkammer-wahren-Dharma-Auges-Kap/dp/3921508908

Gassho, Jundo

STLah

[Kotei]

Here she is, I have no idea what she is saying ... except I probably do ...

The first video is a talk mainly about Rituals and their power and beauty (explicitly excluding funeral rituals) and how they work.
Explaining with her and Dogen's words mainly from a Soto perspective. Describing a bit what she does in her Sangha.
She connects it to her first Zen teacher in Italy who's had that focus and to her past as an art historian.
She describes sitting Zazen as the most important Ritual.
Talking about feeling the body and the bidirectional connection between muscles and the brain in that context, she mentions late Nishijima's love for describing the balance of the autonomic nervous system.

The second video is mainly about her Sangha and about woman practicing Zen. She mentioned herself being active in the 68' women movement and that even asian monks in the west start accepting self-confident women after some time.

Thank you for posting. A little bit added German word-complexity in her talk, but I enjoyed listening to her.
Gassho,
Kotei sat/lah today.

[Geika]

Thank you Jundo. I had been curious about it for a while, and kept forgetting to ask.

Sat today, lah

[Jundo]

By the way, I was just reading by chance a portion of Shobogenzo by Master Dogen, written in the early 13th Century, called "Raihai Tokuzui." Master Dogen was admonishing his monks to be willing to learn from women Zen teachers (and lay teachers too!). Not perfect sexual equality (some ways he puts things are not quite 'woke' ), but way way ahead of his time for a man of conservative, traditional medieval Japan I feel ...

If a nun appears who has attained the Way and received the Dharma, a monk who is seeking the Truth should become her disciple, request the Teachings and prostrate before her. This is what a person who excels in practising the Way of Awakening would do just as one would act to quench a desperate thirst.

...

Presently in the monasteries and temples of Song China , there are places where nuns can practice the Way, and if it is heard that a nun has realized the Way of Awake Awareness, the emperor issues an imperial edict making her the Master of a monastery. This means that she presents the Teachings in the monastery's Dharma Hall. The monastics who study under her gather and stand in the Dharma Hall to hear her teach the Dharma and there is the exchange of questions and answers. This has been the custom since ancient times.

...

Is there anything about being male as such that makes it noble? The body is sheer Openness, like the sky. Openness is open. The four elements of earth, water, fire, and air are just the four elements. The five aggregates of form, reactivity, symbolization, patterning and consciousness are just the five aggregates, however they might appear; as a woman or a man makes no difference. Women and men can both receive the Dharma. If you are serious about the Buddha Way , you cannot make such distinctions about "male" or "female". This is fundamental to the Way of Awake Awareness.

As well, there are householders in Song China who practice who have not yet "left home" to become monks or nuns. They live in small hermitages together with their spouses. It must be admitted that some people are celibate but are still sick with confusion and struggle. So, however someone lives, if they truly practice, honour their teacher, and seek the Truth, they are no different from those who have left home. Although you might be a woman, although you might be an animal, it is still the same.

...

As well, there are those idiotic men nowadays who think, "Women are only good for sex and food." They do not look into the delusions that give rise to such thoughts. The children of the Buddha must not be this way.

And if you despise women because they are only objects of desire, shouldn't you also detest all men? When you are deluded, men can become objects of lust, women can become objects of lust, and even things neither male nor female can become objects of lust. Things seen in dreams and hallucinations become objects of desire. Reflections in water or the sun's radiance shimmering on the ground can be used as the basis for corrupt conduct. Spirits and demons can become objects of desire. You cannot count all the things that lust can objectify so we say that there are eighty-four thousand of them. So can you then avoid everything?

https://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachi...he_Marrow.html

Gassho, J

STLah

[Geika]

Dogen was ahead of his time, for sure.

Gassho, sat today, lah

[Getchi]

Im grateful to be part of this tradition.

I read this and Hokke-ten-hokke nearly daily, and find a lot of freedom.


Gassho,
Geoff.

SatToday
LaH.