Soen Nakagawa
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Sōen Nakagawa | |
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Ryutaku-ji |
Sōen Nakagawa (中川 宋淵, Nakagawa Sōen, born Motoi Nakagawa; March 19, 1907 – March 11, 1984)
Early life
Soen Nakagawa was born as Motoi Nakagawa on March 19, 1907, in Keelung, Taiwan as the eldest of three boys: Matoi, Tamotsu and Sonow. His father, Suketaro Nakagawa, was an army medical officer and his mother's name was Kazuko. His family moved shortly after to Iwakuni, and then finally to Hiroshima. In 1917, at age 12, Nakagawa's father died, leaving his mother Kazuko a young widow. Soen's younger brother, Tamotsu, died soon after in his early childhood. His mother was forced to work to make ends meet and educate her young children herself. It was an unforgiving childhood for Soen. But Soen was much more interested in the arts, where at a young age he displayed a gift for poetry.
Education
In 1923, Soen (still Matoi) entered high school and became a boarder at the First Academy in Tokyo. Soen's childhood friend,
In 1927, Soen and Yamada entered
Zen training
In 1931 Nakagawa and Yamada graduated from Tokyo Imperial University, and it would be several years before the two would meet again. A short while after graduation Soen attended a
Ryutaku-ji
In 1935 Nakagawa accompanied Katsube Roshi to lead a weekend retreat for Tokyo Imperial University students, and realized he forgot the
If you practice zazen, it must be true practice.[2]
This remark struck a deep and spontaneous chord within Soen, and so he requested
Yamada, all you do is argue. Why don't you try sitting?[4]
Years later, Yamada Koun became a Zen monk and roshi, as well. In 1939, Nakagawa returned to Dai Bosatsu Mountain for another solitary retreat. In 1941, Ryutaku-ji is officially recognized as a Rinzai training monastery.
In 1949, Nakagawa made his first trip to the United States where he met Nyogen Senzaki in San Francisco. He found Senzaki's approach to Zen refreshing, and was happy to find a new freedom in expressing himself to followers that would be unheard of in Japan. Free to combine his love for Japanese theater (Noh) into analogies that paralleled sayings of the great Zen masters of the past. Nyogen expressed his wish to Soen that he would like him to stay with him to become his heir, but Soen has responsibilities back at Ryutaku-ji he was unwilling to compromise. The two saw each other again in latter visits to the USA. During this year, Soen also published his Meihen (Life Anthology).
Hesitation
In 1950, Gempo Yamamoto roshi decided it was time for him to retire as abbot of Ryutaku-ji, and he wanted to appoint Soen as head abbot. Soen was hesitant and anxious about the proposition of becoming abbot. He fled the monastery briefly after assuming the position, leaving Gempo with no other choice but to resume the position temporarily. In 1951, Nakagawa returned and resumed his position as abbot at Ryutaku-ji. Soen was a non-traditional abbot, deciding to not distinguish himself from his students. He wore the robe of a monk, he bathed and ate in their quarters. Over the next few years Soen set out to visit other masters stating that, since he had only finished 500 koans of Hakuin's 1700 curriculum, he needed more training. He went to Hosshin-ji and studied under Harada Daiun Sogaku, lineage holder of both the Sōtō and Rinzai school.
In 1954, Soen met a young monk named Tai Shimano (Eido Tai Shimano) at a funeral for Zen priest Daikyu Mineo. In the summer of that year, Tai Shimano ordained as a monk at Ryutaku-ji under Soen's tutelage. In 1955, Soen made his second trip to the United States and Nyogen Senzaki came to Ryutaku-ji to visit with Soen for 6 weeks. In 1957, Keigaku Katsube roshi died. In 1958, Nyogen Senzaki died. Soen was named as the executor of Senzaki's estate and returned to the U.S. to settle Senzakis' affairs. In 1959 and 1960, Soen traveled to the US twice, leading a sesshin in Honolulu, HI during the latter.
In 1961, Gempo Yamamoto roshi died. In 1962, Soen's mother died. Soen and his mother were extraordinarily close. She would visit Ryutaku-ji almost daily to go on excursions into the mountains to talk. They would sit together to have tea, or listen to classical music together. Her death, along with Gempo's death the year before, sent Soen into a depression. He frequented Dai Bosatsu Mountain many times following this for solitary retreat. In 1963, Nakagawa traveled to the United States, India, Israel, Egypt, England, Austria and Denmark with Charles Gooding, a former student of Nyogen Senzaki, teaching Zen with various sanghas.
Accident, 1967
In 1967, Nakagawa sustained a serious injury surveying the grounds of Ryutaku-ji from the view of a treetop. He slipped on a branch and was left unconscious for three days where he had fallen before being found. He was discovered in a bed of bamboo reeds unexpectedly by one of his monks. He was hospitalized for a long time while being treated for his head injury. Yamada Koun stated he was never quite the same after this accident.
1967-1984
In 1968, Nakagawa made his 7th trip to the US to open
In 1971, Nakagawa made his 9th visit to the US, helping
In 1976, International Dai Bosatsu Zendo was officially opened. In 1981, Nakagawa published Koun-sho (Ancient Cloud Selection), and in 1982, Nakagawa made his last visit to the US. Upon returning to Ryotaku-ji, Nakagawa became a recluse. In 1984, on March 11, while approaching his 77th birthday, Nakagawa died while taking a bath at Ryutaku-ji.
Legacy
Soen was viewed as an unorthodox, eccentric and controversial teacher within conventional Rinzai circles of his day.[citation needed]
- Dharma heirs[citation needed]
- Eido Tai Shimano (not acknowledged by Myoshin-ji[web 1]
- Sochu Suzuki, abbot of Ryūtaku-ji 1984-1990
- Kyudo Nakagawa, abbot of Ryūtaku-ji 1990-2007
- Notable formal and informal students[citation needed]
- Philip Kapleau
- Robert Baker Aitken
- Paul Reps
- Maurine Stuart
- John Daido Loori
- Denko Mortensen
- Charlotte Joko Beck
- Ryotan Tokuda Igarashi
Selected works
- Shigan (“Coffin of Poems"), 1936
- Meihan (“Life Anthology"), 1949
- Koun-sho (“Ancient Cloud Selection"), 1981
- Hokoju (“Long-lasting Dharma Light"). Posthumous, 1985
See also
- Buddhism in Japan
- Buddhism in the United States
- List of Rinzai Buddhists
- Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States
References
- ^ "中川宋淵 Nakagawa Sōen (1907-1984)".
- ^ Besserman, Perle; Steger, Manfred (1991). Crazy Clouds: Zen Radicals, Rebels & Reformers. Shambhala. p. 166.
- ^ Victoria, Daizen (2004). Zen War Stories. Psychology Press. p. 97.
- ^ Besserman, Perle; Steger, Manfred (1991). Crazy Clouds: Zen Radicals, Rebels & Reformers. Shambhala. p. 167.
Sources
- Printed sources
- Tanahashi, Kazuaki (Ed.). Chayat, Roko Sherry (Ed.). Endless Vow: The Zen Path of Soen Nakagawa. Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1996. ISBN 1-57062-162-4.
- Nyogen Senzaki, Soen Nakagawa, Eido Shimano, Louis Nordstrom (Ed.) Namu Dai Bosa: a transmission of Zen Buddhism to America. Zen Studies Society, (1976)
- Besserman, Perle. Steger, Manfred. Crazy Clouds: Zen radicals, Rebels & Reformers. Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1991: ISBN 0-87773-543-3.
- Nakagawa, Soen; Shimano, Eido (1986). The Soen roku: the sayings and doings of Master Soen. The Zen Studies Society Press.
- Web-sources
- ^ "About Myoshinji Temple". Myoshinji Temple. Archived from the original on January 13, 2013.