Sōtō

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Sōtō Zen or the Sōtō school (曹洞宗, Sōtō-shū^?) is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai and Ōbaku). It emphasizes Shikantaza, meditation with no objects, anchors, or content. The meditator strives to be aware of the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise and pass away without interference.

The Sōtō school has the most temples under a single legal entity of any Japanese Buddhist organization, at about 14,000, but this is not the largest network as a school of Japanese Buddhism. There are more temples in Japanese Pure Land Buddhism (about 30,000), but these are split across over 10 legal entities, with the largest (Hongan-ji) having about 10,000 temples.^[1]

In the 13th century, Dōgen Zenji studied Caodong Buddhism (Chinese: 曹洞宗; pinyin: Cáo dòng zōng) in China and brought back the teachings to Japan. Dōgen is remembered today as the co-patriarch of Sōtō Zen in Japan along with Keizan Jōkin.^[2][3]

Sōtō Zen is now also popular in the West, and in 1996 priests of the Sōtō Zen tradition formed the Soto Zen Buddhist Association based in North America.

History

Chinese origins

In the Chán lineages Shítóu Xīqiān (Ch. 石頭希遷, ca.700 - ca.790) is regarded as the predecessor of the Caodong school.^[4] He is also regarded as the author of the Sandokai, a poem which formed the basis for the Song of the Precious Mirror Samadhi of Dongshan Liangjie (Jp. Tōzan Ryōkan) and the teaching of the Five Ranks.^[5][6]

The Caodong-school itself was established during the Tang Dynasty in China by Dongshan Liangjie in the 9th century.

Kamakura (1185-1333)

Dōgen Zenji, credited founder of the Sōtō sect in Japan

Dogen

The Caodong-teachings were brought to Japan in 1227, when Dōgen returned to Japan after studying Ch'an in China and settled at Kennin-ji in Kyoto. Dōgen had received Dharma transmission from Tiantong Rujing at Qìngdé Temple, where Hongzhi Zhengjue once was abbot. Hongzhi's writings on "silent illumination" had greatly influenced Dōgen's own conception of shikantaza.^[7]

Dogen did return from China with various koan anthologies and other texts, contributing to the transmission of the koan tradition to Japan.^[8] In the first works he wrote he emphasised the practice of zazen, which brought hin into trouble at Kennin-ji:

This assertion of the primacy of Zen aroused the anger of the Enryaku-ji monks, who succeeded in driving Dōgen from the Kennin-ji where he had settled after his return to the capital.^[9]

In 1243 Dogen founded Eihei-ji,^[10] one of the two head temples of Sōtō-shū today, chosing... {{quote|... to create new monastic institutions based on the Chinese model and risk incurring the open hostility and opposition of the established schools.^[11]

Daily routine was copied from Chinese practices, which went back to the Indian tradition:

The elements of Soto practice that contributed most to the success of the school in medieval Japan were precisely the generic Buddhist monastic practices inherited from Sung China, and ultimately from India. The Soto Zen style of group meditation on long platforms in a sangha hall, where the monks also took meals and slept at night, was the same as that prescribed in Indian Vinaya texts. The etiquette followed in Soto monasteries can also be traced back to the Indian Vinaya.^[11]

Ejo

Dōgen was succeeded around 1236^[12] by his disciple Koun Ejō (1198-1280)^[13], who originally was a member of the Daruma school of Nōnin, but joined Dogen in 1229.^[14] Ejo started his Buddhist studies at Mount Hiei, the center of Tendai studies. following his stay there he studied Pure Land Buddhism under Shōkū, whereafter he joined the Daruma school of Nōnin by then led by Kakuan.^[15]

Ejo, like Dōgen, believed in the primacy of Zen Buddhism. He resisted efforts from outside to water down the tradition with other beliefs.

Gikai

A large group from the Daruma-school under the leadership of Ekan joined the Dogen-school in 1241^[14], after severe conflicts with the Tendai and Rinzai schools.^[15] Among this group were Gikai, Gien and Giin, who were to become influential members of Dogen's school.^[14]

After the death of Ejō, a controversy called the sandai sōron occurred. In 1267 Ejo retired as Abbot of Eihij-ji, giving way to Gikai, who was already favored by Dogen. Gikai too originally was a member of the Daruma school, but joined Dogen's school in 1241, together with a group from the Nōnin school led by Ekan. Gikai introduced esoteric elements into the practice:

[W]ith the premature death of Dōgen the group lost its focus and internal conflicts led to a split. Dōgen's followers soon introduced such esoteric elements as prayers and incantations into the teaching.^[10]

Opposition arose, and in 1272 Ejo resumed the position of abbot. After his death in 1280, Gikai became abbot again, strenghtened by the support of the military for magical practices.^[16] Opposotion arose again, and Gikai was forced to leave Eihij-ji, and exiled to Kaga province, Dajō-ji (in Ishikawa prefecture). He was succeeded by Gien, who was first trained in the Daruma-school of Nōnin. His supporters designated him as the third abbot, rejecting the legitimacy of Gikai.

Keizan

The second most important figure in Sōtō, Keizan, belonged to this dissident branch.^[17] Keizan received ordination from Ejo when he was, twelve years old, shortly before Ejo's death^[18] When he was seventeen he went on a pilgrimage for three years throughout Japan. During this period, he studied Rinzai, Shingon and Tendai. After returning to Daijo-ji, Keizan received dharma transmission from Gikai in 1294, and established Joman-ji.^[18] In 1303 Gikai appointed Keizan as abbot of Daijo-ji^[19], a position he maintained untill 1311.^[20]

Keizan enlarged the Shingon-temple Yōko-ji in Ishikawa prefecture, turning it into a Zen monastery in 1312^[20]. There-after he inherited the Shingon temple Shogaku-ji in 1322, renaming it Sōji-ji, which was recognized as an official monastery.^[21] In 1324 put Gasan Jōseki in charge of Sojo-ji, and returned to Yōkoji.^[21] Yōko-ji was Keizan's main temple, but Sōji-ji thrived better, thanks to Gasan Jōseki^[22]

Though today Dogen is referred as the founder of Soto, for a long period Soto history recognized several important ancestors, next to Dogen.^[23] In 1877 the heads of the Sōtō community acknowledged Keizan for a brief period as the overall founder of the Sōtō sect.^[24]

Dogen is known as the "koso", where Keizan is knowm as the "taiso";

Both terms mean the original patriarch, that is, the founder of Japanese Sōtō Zen tradition.^[25]

Soto-centers

At the end of the Kamakura period, Dogen's school centered around four centers, namely Eihei-ji, Daijo-ji monastery, and the temples Yoko-ji and Soji-ji. Soki-ji became the most influential center of the Dogen-school.^[20]

Muromachi (or Ashikaga) (1336-1573)

During the Muromachi period the Rinzai school was the most successful of the schools, since it was favoured by the Shogun. But Soto too spread out over Japan.

Gasan and Sotetsu

Gasan Jōseki (1275-1365)^[26] and Meiho Sotetsu were Keizan's most prominent students.^[26]

Gasan too started his Buddhist studies at mount Hiei.^[26] He became head of soji-ji in 1324.^[27] Gasan adopted the Five Ranks of Tung-shan as a fit vehicle to explain the Mahayana teachings.^[28]

Sotetsu became head of Yoko-ji in 1325. Initially his influence soon grew. In 1337 Sotetsu was appointed as abbot of Daijo-ji.

Azuchi-Momoyama (1573-1600) and Edo (or Tokugawa) (1600-1868)

After a period of war Japan was re-united in the Azuchi–Momoyama period. This decreased the power of Buddhism, which had become a strong political and military force in Japan and was seen as a threat by the ruling clan. Neo-Confucianism gained influence at the expense of Buddhism, which came under strict state control. Japan closed the gates to the rest of the world.^[29] New doctrines and methods were not to be introduced, nor were new temples and schools. The only exception was the Ōbaku lineage, which was introduced in the 17th century during the Edo period by Ingen, a Chinese monk.

Gento Sokuchu (1729–1807), the 11th abbot of Eiheiji, tried to purify the Soto-school, deemphasizing the use of koans.^[30] he started the elevation of Dogen to the status he has nowadays, when Sokuchu implanted new regulations, based on Dogen's regulations.^[31]

Meiji Restoration (1868-1912) and Imperial expansionism

Sōji-ji Temple, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama

During the Meiji period (1868–1912) Japan abandoned its feudal system and opened up to Western modernism. Shinto became the state religion, and Buddhism was coerced to adapt to the new regime. Rinzai and Soto Zen chose to adapt, with embarrassing consequences when Japanese nationalism was endorsed by the Zen institutions. War endeavours against Russia, China and finally during the Pacific War were supported by the Zen establishment.^[32][33]

Within the Buddhist establishment the Western world was seen as a threat, but also as a challenge to stand up to.^[32][34] Parties within the Zen establishment sought to modernize Zen in accord with Western insights, while simultaneously maintaining a Japanese identity.^[35]

During this period a reappraisal of Dogen started. The memory of Dogen was used to ensure Eiheiji's central place in the Soto-organisation, and "to cement closer ties with lay people". In 1899 the first lay ordination ceremony was organized in Eiheiji.^[31] Eiheiji also promoted the study of Dogen's works, especuially the Shobogenzo, which changed the view of Dogen in Soto's history.^[31] An image of Dogen was created that suited the specific interests of Eiheji:

Dōgen's memory has helped keep Eiheiji financially secure, in good repair, and filled with monks and lay pilgrims who look to Dōgen for religious inspiration [...] the Dōgen we remember is a constructed image, an image constructed in large measure to serve the sectarian agendas of Eiheiji in its rivalry with Sōjiji. We should remember that the Dōgen of the Shōbōgenzō, the Dōgen who is held up as a profound religious philosopher, is a fairly recent innovation in the history of Dōgen remembrances.^[31]

Contemporary Sōtō

Zen in general is losing support in Japan, though the Zen-organisations are still extensive.

Lay interests

Funerals continue to play an important role as a point of contact between the monks and the laity. Statistics published by the Sōtō school state that 80 percent of Sōtō laymen visit their temple only for reasons having to do with funerals and death, while only 17 percent visit for spiritual reasons and a mere 3 percent visit a Zen priest at a time of personal trouble or crisis.^[36]

Monastical training

In an advice to western practitioners, Kojun Kishigami Osho, a dharma heir of Kodo Sawaki, writes:

Every year, about 150 novices arrive. About 90 percent of them are sons of temple heads, which leaves only 10 percent who chose this path for themselves. For the autumn session, about 250 monks come together. Essentially what they are learning in these temples is the ability to officiate all kinds of ceremonies and rites practiced by the Soto School – the methods for fulfilling their role. Apart from this aspect, practicing with the idea of developing one’s own spirituality is not prevalent.^{[web 1]}

According to Kishigami, practice may as well be undertaken elsewhere:

If you want to study Buddhism, I recommend the Japanese universities. If you want to learn the ceremonies practiced by the Soto School, you need only head for Eihei-ji or Soji-ji.
But if your goal is to seriously learn the practice of zazen, unfortunately, I have no Japanese temple to recommend to you. Of course, you can go to Antai-ji, if you want; but if you want to deepen your practice of true Zen, you can do it in Europe. If you go to Japan for this, you will be disappointed. Don’t expect to find anything wonderful there.^{[web 1]}

Spread in the western world

In the 20th century Soto-Zen spread out to the west.

Shunryu Suzuki

Shunryu Suzuki played a central role in bringing Soto to the west. Suzuki studied at Komazawa University, the Soto Zen university in Tokyo. In 1959 Shunryu Suzuki arrived in San Francisco to attend to Soko-ji, at that time the sole Soto Zen temple in San Francisco. His "Zen mind, beginner's mind" has become a classic in the western Zen-culture.

Sanbo Kyodan

The Sanbo Kyodan, in which Soto and Rinzai are merged, is also of central importance western Soto Zen. Their lineage, starting with Hakuun Yasutani, includes Maezumi, who gave dharma transmission to various American students, among who are Tetsugen Bernard Glassman, Dennis Genpo Merzel, Charlotte Joko Beck and John Daido Loori.

In Europe the Sanbo Kyodan has been influential via Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle, and via students of Dennis Genpo Merzel, especially in the Netherlands.

Sanbo Kyodan was also connected to the Soen Nakagawa-Eido Tai Shimano lineage, due to a personal fondness of soen for the teaching practices of Harada roshi.^[37]

Antai-ji

The Antaiji-based lineage of Kodo Sawaki is also wider spread. Kodo Saswaki is regarded as one of the greatest zen-teachers of recent times. Sawaki's student Gudo Wafu Nishijima is the teacher of Brad Warner. Kosho Uchiyama is the teacher of Shohaku Okumura, who established the Sanshin Zen Community (Sanshinji) located in Bloomington, Indiana.

Soto Zen Buddhist Association

The larger majority of North American Sōtō priests^[a] joined together in 1996 to form the Soto Zen Buddhist Association. While institutionally independent of the Japanese Sōtōshū, the Sōtō Zen Buddhist Association works closely with what most members see as their parent organization. With about one hundred fully transmitted priests, the Sōtō Zen Buddhist Association now represents nearly all Japanese-derived Sōtō Zen lineages in North America.^{[citation needed]}

Practice

Founder's Hall at Sōji-ji in Yokohama

Shikantaza

In the Soto school of Zen, Shikantaza, meditation with no objects, anchors, or content, is the primary form of practice. The meditator strives to be aware of the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise and pass away without interference.

Considerable textual, philosophical, and phenomenological justification of this practice can be found throughout Dōgen's works:

In the first works he wrote after his return to Japan, the Fukan zazengi (Principles for the universal promotion of zazen) and Bendōwa (Distinguishing the Way), he advocated zazen (seated meditation) as the supreme Buddhist practice for both monks and laypersons.^[9]

Other important texts promoting zazen are theShōbōgenzō, and the "Principles of Zazen"^{[web 2]} and the "Universally Recommended Instructions for Zazen".^{[web 3]}

Soto versus Rinzai

Sōtō Zen was often given the derogatory term "farmer Zen" because of its mass appeal. Some teachers of Zen would say that the reason why it was called "farmer Zen" was because of its down-to-earth approach, while the Rinzai school was often called "samurai Zen" because of the larger samurai following.^[38][39] The latter term for the Rinzai can be somewhat misleading, however, as the Sōtō school also had samurai among its rosters.^[40]

Texts

Sutras

Sōtō Zen, like all of Zen, relies on the Prajnaparamita Sutras, as well as general Mahayana Buddhist sutras, such as the Lotus Sutra, the Brahma Net Sutra and the Lankavatara Sutra. Zen is influenced in large part by the Yogacara school of philosophy as well as the Huayan school.

Until the promtion of Dogen studies in modern times, the study of Chinese texts was prevalent in Soto:

After textual learning was revived during the early Tokugawa period, most Japanese Sōtō monks still studied only well-known Chinese Buddhist scriptures or classic Chinese Zen texts.54 Eventually a few scholarly monks like Menzan Zuihō began to study Dōgen's writings, but they were the exceptions. Even when scholarly monks read Dōgen's writings, they usually did not lecture on them to their disciples.^[31]

Sōtō Zen texts

Shih-t'ou Hsi-ch'ien's (Shitou Xiqien, Sekito Kisen, 700–790) poem "The Harmony of Difference and Sameness" is an important early expression of Zen Buddhism and is chanted in Sōtō temples to this day.

One of the poems of Tung-shan Liang-chieh, the founder of Sōtō, "The Song of the Jewel Mirror Awareness" is also chanted in Sōtō temples. Another set of his poems on the Five Positions (Five Ranks) of Absolute and Relative is important as a set of koans in the Rinzai school.

Other texts typically chanted in Sōtō Zen temples include the Heart Sutra (Hannyashingyō), and Dōgen's Fukanzazengi (Universally Recommended Instructions for Zazen).

Dogen

Dōgen's teaching is characterized by the identification of practice as enlightenment itself. This is to be found in the Shōbōgenzō. The popularity of thus huge body of texts is from a relatively recent date:

Today, when someone remembers Dōgen or thinks of Sōtō Zen, most often that person automatically thinks of Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō. This kind of automatic association of Dōgen with this work is very much a modern development. By the end of the fifteenth century most of Dōgen's writings had been hidden from view in temple vaults where they became secret treasures [...] In earlier generations only one Zen teacher, Nishiari Bokusan (1821–1910), is known to have ever lectured on how the Shōbōgenzō should be read and understood.^[31]

The study of Dogen, and especially his Shobogenzo, has become the norm in the 20th century:

Beginning in 1905 Eiheiji organized its first Shōbōgenzō conference (Genzō e)[...] Since 1905 it has become an annual event at Eiheiji, and over time it gradually changed the direction of Sōtō Zen monastic education[...] Sōtan's lectures provided a model that could be emulated by each of the other Zen monks who came to Eiheiji. This model has become the norm, not the exception. Today every Sōtō Zen teacher lectures on Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō.^[31]

Temples

Eihei-ji Temple

The two head temples or honzan (本山^?) of the Sōtō sect are Eihei-ji and Sōji-ji.

While Eihei-ji owes its existence to Dōgen, throughout history this head temple has had significantly fewer sub-temple affiliates than the Sōji-ji. During the Tokugawa period, Eiheiji had approximately 1,300 affiliate temples compared to Sōji-ji's 16,200. Furthermore, out of the more than 14,000 temples of the Sōtō sect today, 13,850 of those identify themselves as affiliates of Sōji-ji. Additionally, most of the some 148 temples that are affiliates of Eiheiji today are only minor temples located in Hokkaido— founded during a period of colonization during the Meiji period. Therefore, it is often said that Eiheiji is a head temple only in the sense that it is "head of all Sōtō dharma lineages.^[2]

See also

Buddhism portal

Notes

References

Web-references

Sources

External links

• Sōtō Zen International Official homepage of the Sōtō school of Zen.
• Order of the Prairie Wind An independent order of ordained Sōtō Zen Buddhist priests founded by Rev. Nonin Chowaney.
• The Norwegian Sōtō Zen Buddhist Order. (Defaults to Norwegian text. English text selectable.)
• The International Zen Association Founded by Master Taisen Deshimaru in France for Europe.
• The IZA in the UK IZAUK is an affiliate of the International Zen Association.
• The Order of Buddhist Contemplatives The Order of Buddhist contemplatives founded by Rev. Master P.T.N.H. Houn Jiyu-Kennett.
• San Francisco Zen Center One of the largest American Sōtō Zen centers, founded by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and his American students in 1962. SF Zen Center's Tassajara Zen Mountain Center was the first Sōtō Zen training monastery established in North America.
• Shasta Abbey Buddhist Monastery Official homepage of the Sōtō Zen Buddhist Abbey near Mount Shasta, CA.
• Sōtō Zen Buddhist Association
• thezensite: Dogen studies Collection of academic articles and studies on Dogen