site about the abbots of Eiheiji

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  • Taigu
    Blue Mountain White Clouds Hermitage Priest
    • Aug 2008
    • 2710

    site about the abbots of Eiheiji

    Just to share an insteresting discovery, a site about all the abbots of Eiheiji since Dogen in Japanese but with plenty of interesting documents. With a special page on Niwa Zenji, Nishijima's teacher and our ancestor in the lineage:

    曹洞宗大本山、永平寺、道元禅師、懐奘・義介禅師、臥雲童龍、久我環溪、青蔭雪鴻、滝谷琢宗、森田悟由、福山黙堂、日置黙仙、北野元峰、秦慧昭、鈴木天山、大森禅戒、高階瓏仙、佐川玄彝、熊沢泰禅、佐藤泰舜、山田霊林、秦慧玉、丹羽簾芳、宮崎奕保、洞上行持軌範、曹洞教會修証義、大内青巒、杉浦鏡華、石徳五訓、伊藤柏翠、弟子丸泰仙、種田山頭火、


    and a magnificent portrait of the guy.



    gassho丹羽廉芳禅師.jpg


    Taigu
  • Myozan Kodo
    Friend of Treeleaf
    • May 2010
    • 1901

    #2
    Thanks Taigu,
    Wish I could read Japanese. Great portrait ...

    ... that reminds me. I asked Isabelle for an eyebrow trimmer for Christmas. I have no hair on my head, but plenty sprouting above my eyes and in my ears!

    Gassho
    Myozan

    Comment

    • Mp

      #3
      Wonderful, thank you Taigu.

      Gassho
      Shingen/Michael

      Comment

      • Kyonin
        Dharma Transmitted Priest
        • Oct 2010
        • 6748

        #4
        One more motivation to continue my Japanese learning.

        Thank you Taigu.

        Gassho,

        Kyonin
        Hondō Kyōnin
        奔道 協忍

        Comment

        • Jundo
          Treeleaf Founder and Priest
          • Apr 2006
          • 40858

          #5
          Wonderful!!

          I will set about to translate it over the coming weeks, and we can publish it here (it seems all public information). I see Nishijima Wafu is mentioned in there once. I also order a book by Niwa Zenji, mentioned in the article, that I did not know.

          Gassho, J
          Last edited by Jundo; 01-15-2013, 04:43 PM.
          ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

          Comment

          • Seimyo
            Member
            • Jan 2012
            • 861

            #6
            Thank you Taigu.

            A translation would be amazing Jundo.

            Gassho.
            Seimyo

            明 Seimyō (Christhatischris)

            Comment

            • Neika
              Member
              • Dec 2008
              • 230

              #7
              That would be interesting to read, especially since the Google translation to English was even more confusing than not being able to read the Japanese. As an aside, it would actually be very interesting to know more about many of the individuals in the lineage.
              Neika / Ian Adams

              寧 Nei - Peaceful/Courteous
              火 Ka - Fire

              Look for Buddha outside your own mind, and Buddha becomes the devil. --Dogen

              Comment

              • Myozan Kodo
                Friend of Treeleaf
                • May 2010
                • 1901

                #8
                Hi,
                Are there any books about our forebear in English, by any chance?
                Gassho
                Myozan

                Comment

                • Taigu
                  Blue Mountain White Clouds Hermitage Priest
                  • Aug 2008
                  • 2710

                  #9
                  Thank you Jundo, it would be wonderful if you could at least translate the biographical bits.
                  And no, unfortunately, nothing in English about Niwa's Dharma.

                  gassho


                  Taigu
                  Last edited by Taigu; 01-15-2013, 08:21 PM.

                  Comment

                  • Taigu
                    Blue Mountain White Clouds Hermitage Priest
                    • Aug 2008
                    • 2710

                    #10
                    I always felt a deep connection with Niwa, very humble and soft, and I vividly remember when he came to the West. Little did i know at the time that I would be one of his great grand sons one day. Here is some stuff I wrote a few years ago.

                    Like a laughing and beaming cat
                    Eternal rambling of the brook
                    the cow enters the stream
                    your eyebrows like brushes
                    and teeth and tongue
                    gulping deep blue sky
                    dolls you playing with
                    at five or six years of age
                    dressing them endlessly
                    your shaved head under the sharp blade
                    the incense cloud and fragrant pine
                    the loud voice of the valley
                    shaking the rocks
                    rocking the silent moon
                    not making sense of anything
                    loosing track, wiping footprints
                    how can one walk the rain
                    what is the faith of trees, bees, birds?
                    Not answering
                    bleeding laughters
                    merely gazing
                    with gentleness
                    you ascend the Eiheiji seat
                    and bow at dogs in secret
                    Niwa
                    my blood in yours
                    and yours in mine
                    soiled
                    as this all world
                    seal in space
                    not even a ripple
                    or stir
                    or chatter
                    or whisper
                    the seal where two moons
                    collide
                    and turn into
                    each other
                    Niwa
                    like a rambling and beaming cat
                    eternal laughing of the brook

                    Comment

                    • Neika
                      Member
                      • Dec 2008
                      • 230

                      #11
                      Taigu, can you tell us anything about him?
                      Neika / Ian Adams

                      寧 Nei - Peaceful/Courteous
                      火 Ka - Fire

                      Look for Buddha outside your own mind, and Buddha becomes the devil. --Dogen

                      Comment

                      • Jundo
                        Treeleaf Founder and Priest
                        • Apr 2006
                        • 40858

                        #12
                        Originally posted by Neika
                        Taigu, can you tell us anything about him?
                        I can tell you this little bit ...

                        Although he was as mainstream, orthodox and traditional as could be, Abbot of Eiheiji (Dogen's temple, the monastery of all training monasteries in Japanese Soto Zen ... he was the "Pope" of the Zen Vatican) ...

                        ... he was also very dynamic in his belief that one must support the coming of Zen to the West, and in Ordaining and making his Dharma Heirs some folks who were reformers, not completely orthodox and traditional, out in the worlders, who were strong critics of how dusty and musty Soto Shu (the Soto Zen Church) in Japan often had become. That is why he made his Dharma Heirs some unique types and reformers like Taisen Deshimaru and our Nishijima Roshi. Niwa actually did so, expressing their hope that the spread of Zen overseas would result in something more dynamic and alive than what Zen had sometimes become in Japan, and that it would actually bounce back to give Japanese Zen a much needed kick in the shins.

                        Here is a little film of him, produced years ago, which shows him in formal Dokusan with a young priest. (That's him from the 1:15 to about 4:45 mark) ...



                        Gassho, J
                        ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

                        Comment

                        • Jinyo
                          Member
                          • Jan 2012
                          • 1957

                          #13
                          Fascinating thread - will look forward to the translation.

                          Gassho

                          Willow

                          Comment

                          • Taigu
                            Blue Mountain White Clouds Hermitage Priest
                            • Aug 2008
                            • 2710

                            #14
                            The guy was pretty unusual, as a very young child he loved to play endlessly with dolls and had quite feminine taste. Not at all what you would expect from a Zen priest, after Sawaki Kodo s death he took the newly ordained Deshimaru under his protection and wing and slways invited him in his temple with his European students. Desjardin did shoot Niwa giving Dokusan and his sitting is absolutely majestic and natural. When Deshimaru died and as he was about to become Eiheiji s abbot, he agreed to give transmission to three students of the late teacher. He came to France to do so and visited sanghas and other teachers in Spain, Italy and Germany. Totally open to the West, he was a leading exemple of the transmission to the westeners. The stories about him are many, his love for bowing even in front of a dog if a dog would go by, he also was the first abbot not to miss a single early morning sit in Eiheiji zendo ( the tradition is for the abbot to sit in his room on his own) Niwa had a heart as broad as the sea.

                            Last year a rakusu with Niwa s calligraphy ended up in my hands, a pure miracle, unheard to me, which I also see as a confirmation of a bond between the great grand father and his miserable great grand son beyond life and death.

                            Gassho


                            Taigu
                            Last edited by Taigu; 01-16-2013, 10:12 AM.

                            Comment

                            • Jakudo
                              Member
                              • May 2009
                              • 251

                              #15
                              Originally posted by Taigu
                              The guy was pretty unusual, as a very young child he loved to play endlessly with dolls and had quite feminine taste. Not at all what you would expect from a Zen priest, after Sawaki Kodo s death he took the newly ordained Deshimaru under his protection and wing and slways invited him in his temple with his European students. Desjardin did shoot Niwa giving Dokusan and his sitting is absolutely majestic and natural. When Deshimaru died and as he was about to become Eiheiji s abbot, he agreed to give transmission to three students of the late teacher. He came to France to do so and visited sanghas and other teachers in Spain, Italy and Germany. Totally open to the West, he was a leading exemple of the transmission to the westeners. The stories about him are many, his love for bowing even in front of a dog if a dog would go by, he also was the first abbot not to miss a single early morning sit in Eiheiji zendo ( the tradition is for the abbot to sit in his room on his own) Niwa had a heart as broad as the sea.

                              Last year a rakusu with Niwa s calligraphy ended up in my hands, a pure miracle, unheard to me, which I also see as a confirmation of a bond between the great grand father and his miserable great grand son beyond life and death.

                              Gassho


                              Taigu
                              Wonderful story Taigu, thanks you. I'm always amazed by the interconnectiveness of everything.
                              Gassho, Shawn Jukudo Hinton.
                              Gassho, Shawn Jakudo Hinton
                              It all begins when we say, “I”. Everything that follows is illusion.
                              "Even to speak the word Buddha is dragging in the mud soaking wet; Even to say the word Zen is a total embarrassment."
                              寂道

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