Nyogen Senzaki
Encyclopedia
Nyogen Senzaki was a Rinzai Zen monk who was one of the 20th century's leading proponents of Zen Buddhism in the United States
.
state Senzaki was born on October 5, 1876 as the Senzaki family's first son. He was named Aizo Senzaki. As a youth Senzaki's grandmother told him he had been abandoned as an infant and was discovered by a fisherman from Sakhalin island, Siberia
who reportedly brought him back to Aomori Prefecture
.
His father is unknown, but he was either Russian or Chinese
. Aizo's grandmother was perhaps misinformed in her version of events, because some accounts state young Senzaki was adopted by a travelling Kegon
Buddhist priest and brought back to Japan.
temple run by his grandfather, with whom he began the study of many Chinese classics. The elderly priest had a profound influence on him, which was, as Nyogen Senzaki later wrote, "to live up to the Buddhist ideals outside of name and fame and to avoid as far as possible the world of loss and gain". When Senzaki was 16 his grandfather died, stating to Aizo just before dying:
When his grandfather died Senzaki left his grandfather's temple and enrolled in a school to prepare for medical school. According to his own account, he read the autobiography
of Benjamin Franklin
while in school and tried to imitate Franklin's approach toward spirituality. He felt himself drawn a bit to Christianity
during this period, but ended up meeting a haiku
poet who taught him about Matsuo Bashō
. By the age of 18 he had read the entirety of the Tripitaka
. During this period he read about how Tokusan had burned a volume of Diamond Sutra
commentaries he himself was currently studying. This was Aizo's turning point, and he decided to become a Zen Buddhist monk.
On April 8, 1895 (on Vesak
), when Aizo was 19, he was ordained as a monk and was given the Dharma
name Nyogen at a Soto Zen temple. The word Nyogen means "Like a dream, like a fantasy" in Japanese and came from concluding verse of Diamond Sutra
. Nyogen says he would have preferred to be ordained at a Rinzai temple, but there was none in his area. The next year Nyogen went to Kamakura
to Engaku-ji
where he studied Zen under Rinzai master Soyen Shaku
.
Soyen was a strict teacher who was very harsh and physical in his training methods. During this time Nyogen contracted tuberculosis
and lived in virtual confinement in a small hut on the grounds of the monastery
. The next year, on the verge of death, somehow his condition managed to improve and he was able to go back to the monastery.
Here Nyogen came to meet another 20th century pioneer of Zen, D.T. Suzuki. Suzuki was a lay student of Soyen Shaku. Nyogen was becoming disconcerted with the institutional practices of the monastery at the time, and turned to books as a means of release. Here he came across the works of Friedrich Fröbel, the founder of kindergarten
. In 1901, Nyogen asked Soyen if he could leave the monastery to open a kindergarten. He called it Mentorgarten, a place free of religiosity and ritual where children could be children.
. In 1905 Soyen Shaku was asked by friends in the San Francisco, CA area to come and give talks and lectures on Buddhism
. Soyen needed an attendant for his time there, and asked Nyogen to come with him. Nyogen jumped at the opportunity, for he was dissatisfied with the nationalism all around him and the institutional way in which Zen was then being practiced. So they left that same year and landed in Seattle, WA where they stayed for a few days, and then headed for San Francisco. When it was time for the two to return to Japan, Soyen sensed his student's turmoil at the prospect of returning.
In Golden Gate Park
, Soyen Shaku set down his friend Nyogen's suitcase and said the following to him:
With those words Shaku spun about and left Nyogen there, and the two would never meet face to face again. Nyogen stayed in the USA for the rest of his life, with the exception of a trip in 1955 back to Japan to visit his friend Soen Nakagawa
. In the San Francisco area Nyogen performed jobs as a hotel clerk and elevator assistant (among other jobs) to scrounge by. He certainly was struggling with his finances. During his spare time Nyogen would visit the San Francisco Public Library
often and read books on Immanuel Kant
, Ralph Waldo Emerson
and William James
. He was studying English
and developed a good grasp of the language.
. In 1922 Nyogen scraped together enough money to rent out a hall and lecture on Zen. He continued this, moving from place to place throughout the city teaching about Zen meditation. By 1927 he had developed a small following with his "floating zendo
." His only material whilst going from hall to hall was a picture of Manjusri
Bodhisattva
. Eventually, along with the help of some students, he managed to rent an apartment in San Francisco where he would hold practice. During this period he even had a guest speaker from Japan come to lecture, Gyudo Furukawa.
Nyogen moved to Los Angeles in the 1930s, where he again rented out an apartment and continued the so-called "floating zendo" model. Soon Senzaki became familiar with the community of Japanese immigrants there. In 1932 he befriended a Japanese woman named Kin Tanahashi, who had a mentally retarded boy. Nyogen cared for the boy in exchange for room and board. It was Mrs. Tanahashi who introduced Nyogen to the haiku poetry of Soen Nakagawa
. Senzaki was extremely impressed with these poems, so he contacted Soen and they began corresponding with one another.
Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor
, Senzaki was among the tens of thousands of Japanese-Americans
to be relocated to internment camps. He spent the duration of the war
in Heart Mountain
, Wyoming.
At the conclusion of the war, Senzaki moved what he called his "Floating Zendo" to Los Angeles
. While making his living in a number of ways he devoted his passion for the rest of his life to teaching Zen. Among his students at this time were Robert Aitken
, who would become one of the most significant of modern Western Zen teachers, and Samuel L. Lewis
who would later be known as a prominent Sufi teacher in the line of Hazrat Inayat Khan, and Zen teacher in the lineage of Korean Zen Master Dr. Kyung-Bo Seo. Also, Senzaki maintained a long-term correspondence with Soen Nakagawa
, an unconventional young monk practicing in Japan
, who would go on to become one of the most prominent Rinzai Zen teachers to come West.
Senzaki died on May 7, 1958 at 81 years old. There are several versions of his "last words," one of the most compelling was "Remember the Dharma
! Remember the Dharma! Remember the Dharma!"
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Early life
Senzaki's early life is shrouded in mystery. Town records in Fukaura, AomoriFukaura, Aomori
is a town located in the Nishitsugaru District of Aomori Prefecture in the Tōhoku region of Japan. As of 2009, the town had an estimated population of 9,917 and a density of 20.3 persons per km²...
state Senzaki was born on October 5, 1876 as the Senzaki family's first son. He was named Aizo Senzaki. As a youth Senzaki's grandmother told him he had been abandoned as an infant and was discovered by a fisherman from Sakhalin island, Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
who reportedly brought him back to Aomori Prefecture
Aomori Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku Region. The capital is the city of Aomori.- History :Until the Meiji Restoration, the area of Aomori prefecture was known as Mutsu Province....
.
His father is unknown, but he was either Russian or Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
. Aizo's grandmother was perhaps misinformed in her version of events, because some accounts state young Senzaki was adopted by a travelling Kegon
Kegon
Kegon is the name of the Japanese transmission of the Huayan school of Chinese Buddhism.Huayan studies were founded in Japan when, in 736, the scholar-priest Rōben originally a monk of the Hossō tradition invited Shinshō to give lectures on the Avatamsaka Sutra at...
Buddhist priest and brought back to Japan.
Early training
When Senzaki was five years old his mother died. He was sent to a Pure LandPure land
A pure land, in Mahayana Buddhism, is the celestial realm or pure abode of a Buddha or Bodhisattva. The various traditions that focus on Pure Lands have been given the nomenclature Pure Land Buddhism. Pure lands are also evident in the literature and traditions of Taoism and Bön.The notion of 'pure...
temple run by his grandfather, with whom he began the study of many Chinese classics. The elderly priest had a profound influence on him, which was, as Nyogen Senzaki later wrote, "to live up to the Buddhist ideals outside of name and fame and to avoid as far as possible the world of loss and gain". When Senzaki was 16 his grandfather died, stating to Aizo just before dying:
When his grandfather died Senzaki left his grandfather's temple and enrolled in a school to prepare for medical school. According to his own account, he read the autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
while in school and tried to imitate Franklin's approach toward spirituality. He felt himself drawn a bit to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
during this period, but ended up meeting a haiku
Haiku
' , plural haiku, is a very short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three qualities:* The essence of haiku is "cutting"...
poet who taught him about Matsuo Bashō
Matsuo Basho
, born , then , was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative haikai no renga form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as a master of brief and clear haiku...
. By the age of 18 he had read the entirety of the Tripitaka
Tripiṭaka
' is a traditional term used by various Buddhist sects to describe their various canons of scriptures. As the name suggests, a traditionally contains three "baskets" of teachings: a , a and an .-The three categories:Tripitaka is the three main categories of texts that make up the...
. During this period he read about how Tokusan had burned a volume of Diamond Sutra
Diamond Sutra
The Diamond Sūtra , is a short and well-known Mahāyāna sūtra from the Prajñāpāramitā, or "Perfection of Wisdom" genre, and emphasizes the practice of non-abiding and non-attachment...
commentaries he himself was currently studying. This was Aizo's turning point, and he decided to become a Zen Buddhist monk.
On April 8, 1895 (on Vesak
Vesak
Vesākha is a holiday observed traditionally by Buddhists in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the South East Asian countries of Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, and Indonesia...
), when Aizo was 19, he was ordained as a monk and was given the Dharma
Dharma
Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
name Nyogen at a Soto Zen temple. The word Nyogen means "Like a dream, like a fantasy" in Japanese and came from concluding verse of Diamond Sutra
Diamond Sutra
The Diamond Sūtra , is a short and well-known Mahāyāna sūtra from the Prajñāpāramitā, or "Perfection of Wisdom" genre, and emphasizes the practice of non-abiding and non-attachment...
. Nyogen says he would have preferred to be ordained at a Rinzai temple, but there was none in his area. The next year Nyogen went to Kamakura
Kamakura, Kanagawa
is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, about south-south-west of Tokyo. It used to be also called .Although Kamakura proper is today rather small, it is often described in history books as a former de facto capital of Japan as the seat of the Shogunate and of the Regency during the...
to Engaku-ji
Engaku-ji
right|thumb|A stone carvingNot to be confused with Enryaku-ji in Kyoto., or Engaku-ji , is one of the most important Zen Buddhist temple complexes in Japan and is ranked second among Kamakura's Five Mountains. It is situated in the city of Kamakura, in Kanagawa prefecture to the south of Tokyo...
where he studied Zen under Rinzai master Soyen Shaku
Soyen Shaku
Soyen Shaku was the first Zen Buddhist master to teach in the United States. He was a Roshi of the Rinzai school and was abbot of both Kencho-ji and Engaku-ji temples in Kamakura, Japan...
.
Soyen was a strict teacher who was very harsh and physical in his training methods. During this time Nyogen contracted tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
and lived in virtual confinement in a small hut on the grounds of the monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
. The next year, on the verge of death, somehow his condition managed to improve and he was able to go back to the monastery.
Here Nyogen came to meet another 20th century pioneer of Zen, D.T. Suzuki. Suzuki was a lay student of Soyen Shaku. Nyogen was becoming disconcerted with the institutional practices of the monastery at the time, and turned to books as a means of release. Here he came across the works of Friedrich Fröbel, the founder of kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
. In 1901, Nyogen asked Soyen if he could leave the monastery to open a kindergarten. He called it Mentorgarten, a place free of religiosity and ritual where children could be children.
America
By the start of the 20th century Japan had become dangerously nationalisticNationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
. In 1905 Soyen Shaku was asked by friends in the San Francisco, CA area to come and give talks and lectures on Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. Soyen needed an attendant for his time there, and asked Nyogen to come with him. Nyogen jumped at the opportunity, for he was dissatisfied with the nationalism all around him and the institutional way in which Zen was then being practiced. So they left that same year and landed in Seattle, WA where they stayed for a few days, and then headed for San Francisco. When it was time for the two to return to Japan, Soyen sensed his student's turmoil at the prospect of returning.
In Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20% larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles long east to west, and about half a...
, Soyen Shaku set down his friend Nyogen's suitcase and said the following to him:
With those words Shaku spun about and left Nyogen there, and the two would never meet face to face again. Nyogen stayed in the USA for the rest of his life, with the exception of a trip in 1955 back to Japan to visit his friend Soen Nakagawa
Soen Nakagawa
Soen Nakagawa was a Taiwanese-born Japanese rōshi and Zen Buddhist master in the Rinzai tradition...
. In the San Francisco area Nyogen performed jobs as a hotel clerk and elevator assistant (among other jobs) to scrounge by. He certainly was struggling with his finances. During his spare time Nyogen would visit the San Francisco Public Library
San Francisco Public Library
The San Francisco Public Library is a public library system serving the city of San Francisco. Its main library is located in San Francisco's Civic Center, at 100 Larkin Street at Grove. The first public library of San Francisco officially opened in 1879, just 30 years after the California Gold...
often and read books on Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
, Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
and William James
William James
William James was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a physician. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism...
. He was studying English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and developed a good grasp of the language.
Floating Zendo
In 1919 Nyogen received word that Shaku had died back in Japan. Around this time, he compiled the famous book 101 Zen Stories101 Zen Stories
101 Zen Stories is a 1919 compilation of Zen koans including 19th and early 20th century anecdotes compiled by Nyogen Senzaki, and a translation of Shasekishū, written in the 13th century by Japanese Zen master Mujū . The book was reprinted by Paul Reps as part of Zen Flesh, Zen Bones...
. In 1922 Nyogen scraped together enough money to rent out a hall and lecture on Zen. He continued this, moving from place to place throughout the city teaching about Zen meditation. By 1927 he had developed a small following with his "floating zendo
Zendo
or is a Japanese term translating roughly as "meditation hall". In Zen Buddhism, the zen-dō is a spiritual dōjō where zazen is practiced...
." His only material whilst going from hall to hall was a picture of Manjusri
Manjusri
Mañjuśrī is a bodhisattva associated with transcendent wisdom in Mahāyāna Buddhism. In Esoteric Buddhism he is also taken as a meditational deity. The Sanskrit name Mañjuśrī can be translated as "Gentle Glory"...
Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...
. Eventually, along with the help of some students, he managed to rent an apartment in San Francisco where he would hold practice. During this period he even had a guest speaker from Japan come to lecture, Gyudo Furukawa.
Nyogen moved to Los Angeles in the 1930s, where he again rented out an apartment and continued the so-called "floating zendo" model. Soon Senzaki became familiar with the community of Japanese immigrants there. In 1932 he befriended a Japanese woman named Kin Tanahashi, who had a mentally retarded boy. Nyogen cared for the boy in exchange for room and board. It was Mrs. Tanahashi who introduced Nyogen to the haiku poetry of Soen Nakagawa
Soen Nakagawa
Soen Nakagawa was a Taiwanese-born Japanese rōshi and Zen Buddhist master in the Rinzai tradition...
. Senzaki was extremely impressed with these poems, so he contacted Soen and they began corresponding with one another.
Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
, Senzaki was among the tens of thousands of Japanese-Americans
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
to be relocated to internment camps. He spent the duration of the war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in Heart Mountain
Heart Mountain War Relocation Center
The Heart Mountain Relocation Center, named after nearby Heart Mountain, was one of ten internment camps used to incarcerate Japanese Americans excluded from the West Coast during World War II under the provisions of Executive Order 9066 signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt...
, Wyoming.
At the conclusion of the war, Senzaki moved what he called his "Floating Zendo" to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. While making his living in a number of ways he devoted his passion for the rest of his life to teaching Zen. Among his students at this time were Robert Aitken
Robert Baker Aitken
Robert Baker Dairyu Chotan Aitken Roshi was a Zen teacher in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He co-founded the Honolulu Diamond Sangha in 1959...
, who would become one of the most significant of modern Western Zen teachers, and Samuel L. Lewis
Samuel L. Lewis
Samuel Lewis was an American mystic and dance teacher who founded the Dances of Universal Peace movement. He was also known under his Sufi name Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti and was addressed by his mureeds and others as Murshid...
who would later be known as a prominent Sufi teacher in the line of Hazrat Inayat Khan, and Zen teacher in the lineage of Korean Zen Master Dr. Kyung-Bo Seo. Also, Senzaki maintained a long-term correspondence with Soen Nakagawa
Soen Nakagawa
Soen Nakagawa was a Taiwanese-born Japanese rōshi and Zen Buddhist master in the Rinzai tradition...
, an unconventional young monk practicing in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, who would go on to become one of the most prominent Rinzai Zen teachers to come West.
Senzaki died on May 7, 1958 at 81 years old. There are several versions of his "last words," one of the most compelling was "Remember the Dharma
Dharma
Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
! Remember the Dharma! Remember the Dharma!"
Selected Works (in English)
- Buddhism and Zen (with Ruth Strout McCandless) ISBN 0-86547-315-3
- The Iron Flute (with Ruth Strout McCandless) ISBN 0-8048-3248-X
- Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings (with Paul Reps) ISBN 0-385-08130-8
- Eloquent Silence: Nyogen Senzaki's Gateless Gate (with Roko Sherry Chayat) ISBN 0-86171-559-4
See also
- Buddhism in the United StatesBuddhism in the United StatesBuddhism is one of the largest religions in the United States behind Christianity, Judaism and Nonreligious, and approximate with Islam and Hinduism. American Buddhists include many Asian Americans, as well as a large number of converts of other ethnicities, and now their children and even...
- List of Rinzai Buddhists
- Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United StatesTimeline of Zen Buddhism in the United StatesBelow is a timeline of important events regarding Zen Buddhism in the United States. Dates with "?" are approximate.-Early history:* 1893: Soyen Shaku comes to the United States to lecture at the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago...