roshi

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Rōshi (老師^?) (Chinese pinyin: Lǎoshī; Sanskrit: ṛṣi) is a Japanese honorific title used in Zen Buddhism that literally means "old teacher" or "elder master" and sometimes denotes a person who gives spiritual guidance to a Zen sangha or congregation.

Ethymology

Chinese Chán Buddhism uses the semantically related title sifu (師父, literally "master father" or "father of masters", or 師傅, literally "master teacher" or "teacher of masters"; both pronounced "shīfu") as an honorific title for the highest masters, but it also may be used in respectful address of monks and nuns generally. In Chinese, 老師 (Chinese pinyin: Lǎoshī) is a common word for teacher or professor without the religious/spiritual connotation of rōshi.

Usage

Traditionally, the term Rōshi was applied as a respectful honorific to an older, usually over sixty years, Zen teacher who was perceived by a sangha to have attained a superior understanding and expression of the Dharma. Despite this, it has come in some modern Zen schools to be applied as an official title that doesn't have to do with the age of the individual who receives it. This is especially true in some Japanese Rinzai Zen schools in Japan and United States, and among other schools in the US and Europe. There is sometimes dispute about use of the term rōshi, and there is wide variance in its application.

Most teachers called rōshi have undergone many years of arduous training.

Rinzai

In some Rinzai organizations, a monastic is sometimes called rōshi after they have received inka shōmei, meaning they have completed kōan study and received Dharma transmission from their master;

In Rinzai Zen, it is relatively easy to say who is a roshi and who is not. Anyone who is authorized by another roshi (i.e. his teacher) is a roshi. This authorization (officially the "inka-shômei" document) is documented on a piece of paper, that is why it is also called colloquially "ichi-mai", that is "one sheet (of paper)". The transmission is totally vertical from teacher to student, no peer control is involved. That means that the Rinzai sect has no means to control who is made a roshi and who is not. Inspite of that, the number of Rinzai roshis is relatively low, maybe around 50 or so.^{[web 1]}

Sōtō

In the Sōtō organization, a person is sometimes called rōshi after they have received the title of shike, but this is by no means standard practice:

There are about 50 or so of these in Soto (the Rinzai roshis can also be adressed as "shike") [...] [T]here is a kind of commitee, called the "shike-kai", consisting of all Japanese Soto shike. There is no foreign shike, as far as I know. The shike-kai can appoint anyone as a shike whom they condider their equal, i.e. who has done genuine training and study, cultivated himself and reached whatever understanding that might be considered enlightened enough to match the enlightenment of the other shike. So shike appointment can be called horizontal in a way.^{[web 1]}

Sanbo Kyodan

In the Sanbo Kyodan, a lay organization that combines Soto and Rinzai elements, a person is called rōshi when they have received inka, indicating they have passed the kōan curriculum and received Dharma transmission.

Western Zen

Many Zen communities in the United States confer the title of rōshi to their teachers in deference to perceived Japanese Zen tradition, and in most instances it is used synonymously with the term Zen master. However, only in a minority of Japanese traditions has the term's usage been standardized in this way, this being is a fairly modern development.

Criticism

The use of the term roshi in the U.S. and Europe has at times led to confusion and controversy.^{[1][2][3][4][web 2]} Stuart Lachs has argued that Zen institutions in the West have often attributed a mythic status to the title rōshi with harmful consequences.^{[web 3]}

See also

• Oshō
• Sensei
• Zen master
• Zen ranks and hierarchy
• Dharma transmission

References

Web references

References

• Gard, Richard A. (2007). Buddhism. Gardners Books. ISBN 0-548-07730-4. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/176932841&referer=brief_results. 
• Katagiri, Dainin (1988). Returning to Silence: Zen Practice in Daily Life. Shambhala Publications. ISBN 0-87773-431-3. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/16982186&referer=brief_results. 
• Ogata, Sohaku (1975). Zen for the West. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-8371-6583-0. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/174613475&referer=brief_results. 
• Seager, Richard Hughes (1999). Buddhism In America. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-10868-0. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/40481142&referer=one_hit. 

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