Philip Kapleau's First Zen Master
Вставка
- Опубліковано 17 жов 2024
- Roshi Kapleau's early days of Zen training took place in Japan, first under Nakagawa Soen Roshi, who after some months took him to Hosshin-ji and Kapleau's first sesshin, the intense Rohatsu sesshin that honors the Buddha's own Awakening. Soen Roshi was unique, both as a Japanese Zen master as well as a human being, and it was perhaps because of his openness and creativity that he could launch Philip Kapleau into training that would ultimately benefit countless Westerners who eventually did Zen practice under his guidance at the Rochester Zen Center.
His students gained immensely from his guidance - I would have loved to meet him. This work is so rich and so foundational. Thank you for doing this.
The longer I practice, the longer I teach, the more I realize what an incredible teacher he was.... Thank you for writing.
I attended a two day meditation trg. he did at Harvard in 1970 or 71. Of all the great people I was fortunate to see from that era, he was the one who impressed me the most. He just seemed very disciplined, no-nonsense and devoted to his mission of teaching us what we could do if we tried. I was a dilettante practitioner for forty years always promising myself some day I would make a serious commitment to it. In my early 60's I had a very painful life event and decided this was the time. For the last 15 years I have been devoted to it and now view it as the most valuable things I have ever learned. I am grateful to Kapleau.
Thanks for writing, Bryan! It can take quite awhile for one's karma to mature in the direction of undertaking Zen practice, and I'm glad yours has brought you to serious practice. Roshi Kapleau was a true Zen master; I trained with him for twenty years full time, until he retired. In the intervening years of continuing practice I cocntinue to realize what a gift it was to train with him.
very low sound on the video, I appreciate these words but wish I didn't have to turn my speakers all the way up to hear
Mitra Bishop thanks for your reply, I’m sure with your new equipment the issue has worked itself out, sorry to have cast any negativity on what was a very engaging lecture
@@OctavianTech Hope it has, but it was good to have your feedback. We'd tried everything once we heard about the problem-it hadn't shown up on our end, only with UA-cam.
Any comments on why Phlilip Kapleau did not finish his Koan training before opening his own Zen center?
Yes. First, Yasutani-roshi authorized him to return to the States and start teaching, and visited the Rochester Zen Center the next time he traveled to the States to teach. At that time he told Roshi, "If I like what I see the next time I come I'll do the final ceremony for you." The clear implication here was that Yasutani-roshi felt Roshi Kapleau's training was sufficient to become a fully authorized teacher, ie., that whatever koans he had worked on and passed were sufficient. The next time he was scheduled to come to the States, it became known that Yasutani-roshi was bringing Eido Shimano to translate for him. By that time Robert Aitken had been contacted by a psychiatrist and told that Eido had been the cause for two of Diamond Sangha female students to become hospitalized for psychiatric reasons. [Aitken Roshi, before he died, allowed his letters regarding these incidents to be unsealed.]. Roshi Kapleau, wanting to keep his students safe, asked Yasutani-roshi not to bring Eido. In the end Yasutani-roshi DID bring Eido-and skipped Rochester. He died before he could come back again.
As for koan work, generally, each lineage has a minimum number of koans a person must pass in order to become a teacher; i.e., they are not necessarily going to have the opportunity to or be required to, work on-for various reasons including their own clear maturity in practice-the entire koan collection, which numbers close to 1800 koans. Add to that the fact that different lineages emphasize different koans (not to mention, different answers to those koans than other lineages accept), and it gets even more confusing. What koans did Daiun-roshi pass on to his successors, having been passed on them himself?
That said, in my personal experience and the experience of Roshi Kapleau's other Dharma successors, he was a genuine Zen teacher, of great and impartial skill, of peerless ethical conduct, of ongoing, ever-deepening practice himself, and was very clear in his teaching. I trained for 20 years, most of them intensively, with Roshi Kapleau, and have trained since 1991, a significant part of that intensively also, with Harada Shodo Roshi, both in residence at Sōgen-ji as well as at Tahoma Monastery and its antecedents in the U.S. Of Harada Roshi's current-and upcoming-Dharma successors, I know of only one who has actually done the entire koan curriculum available in Rinzai monasteries.
Harada Roshi has a great deal of respect for Roshi Kapleau, which speaks volumes. There is far more to becoming authorized as a Zen teacher and being an appropriate one than how many koans one has passed. I hope this answers your question.
@@MountainGateNM Thank you for your answer. Does this mean that Philip Kapleau did not receive inka from Yasutani roshi? This looks like Kapleau himself decided he was ready. Edit. The story gets even more complicated. selfdefinition.org/zen/articles/stuart-lachs/6-walter-nowick-philip-kapleau.htm
@@ID-8491 "Inka" means various things in various lineages, including an acknowle4gement of one's enlightenment experience. It was clear to me that Roshi Kapleau had had a genuine Awakening experience, and that it was deep enough to both make it clear where he needed to work on the Long Maturation, as well as that that work was essential-as it is for all serious Zen practitioners.
@@MountainGateNM I shouldn't have written that. It's none of my business. Please accept my apologies.
@@ID-8491 Accepted, thank you!
It is sad that even after so many decades have passed, people who never knew him nor his deep and profound teaching, nor his upstanding behavior (in a sea of peers whose behavior was questionable), nor his never-ceasing work on himself, continue to argue over whether or not he "received transmission." History has shown that he was a true teacher. History has also shown that there have been teachers who were "given transmission" who behaved in ways that seriously harmed their students and undermined the Dharma.
Hi, i'm Vietnamese. When i zazen , i can move and rotate. Do you understand what i say ? Have you ever had the experience like me ?
@@hamanhhoang6789 This sounds to me like something in Zen known as "makyo" and is not something to encourage. It can keep a meditator from doing authentic meditation.
@@MountainGateNM it's not. I'am not fluent in English. But In Three pillars of Zen, the tittle of Dokusan : some Zen student when practice with "Mu" , their body can move and rotate without iniative.
And it's not makyo
@@hamanhhoang6789 Unfortunately, it is a kind of make. But don't try to prevent it.
@@MountainGateNM okay. I bet that you read the book name : the journey in search the way. The author is a Nun monk who received the teaching of Zen Master Yatsutani and finally she's Kensho - enlightenment.
I agree that not prevent the moving when zazen.
The audio isn't working. I can hardly hear her speak.
That is one of the earlier videos, when we were challenged to have the audio loud enough. But I just played it on my computer and could hear it well. Wondering what might be interfering with your volume?
@@MountainGateNM It's ok, your newer videos all have great volume.
@@andywarnick9558 Thanks, Andy!