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Hakuun Yasutani, Roshi

Yatsutani Roshi

1885-1973

Yatsutani Roshi was ordained at age five and trained as a Soto priest. At thirty he married, had a family of five children and worked as an elementary school teacher and principal. At age forty he resumed his vocation as a Buddhist priest. Deeply dissatisfied with his own understanding, he began training under the Rinzai master Daiun Sogaku Harada Roshi, from whom he received Dharma transmission eighteen years later at age 58. For thirty more years he taught tirelessly, always emphasizing the importance of kensho, seeing directly into one's own true nature. His many students included Robert Aitken Roshi and Philip Kapleau Roshi. Two of his Dharma successors were Yamada Roshi and Maezumi Roshi.

"For thirty years I went for examination to the room of old man Daiun Harada Sogaku, during which time I secretly recorded the essential points of his lectures to serve as my text, and modified it by adding personal opinions and criticisms. I can't stand by and watch the gate and garden of the Buddha's house come to ruin and collapse, so I have hurriedly taken something like a shit-stick to support the gate and brace the door.

The truly transmitted Zen of Bodhidharma is the religion of wisdom. It is the religion of feelings, the religion of aspiration, a substantial religion, a vigorous religion. It is the religion with the universe for an "I", a religion of utterly purified sympathy-that is, of great love and great sorrow. It is a religion of social reform, of national prosperity, of human happiness, of absolute great vows unstopped by obstacles, a sprightly religion.

"Zen is for individuals, it is anti-social"-don't you talk such nonsense. The Buddha's and Patriarch's truly transmitted Zen is of selfless vows, together with Great Compassion and absolute Great Wisdom, all of which become a fireball through training and polishing amidst circumstances. It is the great practice of filling your belly with the Universe. How can there be either unreadiness or carelessness? Make the Way your own!"

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Updated: <January 11, 2007r> Designed by Michelle Bagley

Chozen and Hogen Bays Shodo Harada Roshi