Sanbo Kyodan

infobox Organization
name = Sanbo Kyodan


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caption = Haku'un Yasutani (right)


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formation = 1954
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type = Zen
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headquarters = flagicon|Japan Kamakura, Japan
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website = [http://www.sanbo-zen.org/ www.sanbo-zen.org/]
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Sanbo Kyodan (a.k.a. Sanbô-Kyôdan or Harada-Yasutani School; Japanese: 三宝教団, literally "Three Treasures Religious Organization") is an independent lay school of Japanese Zen in the Soto(曹洞宗) tradition, employing approaches from both the Rinzai and Soto schools. The school is rooted in the teachings of Harada Daiun Sogaku(原田 祖岳) and was founded by Yasutani Haku'un(安谷 白雲) in 1954—Yasutani having broken away from the Soto school that same year. The schools' headquarters are based in Kamakura, Japan(鎌倉). While the schools' tenets are based upon Buddhist teaching, not all teachers in the lineage consider themselves Buddhist.

Meaning of the Name in Translation

Sanbô-Kyôdan means Three Treasures Religious Organization or the Religious Organization of the Three Treasures. It should not be confused with the group called the "Sanbô-Kyôdan Society" that is the "fellowship organization supporting and managing all the activities affiliated with or directed by the Religious Foundation Sanbô Kyôdan." [ [http://homepage2.nifty.com/sanbo_zen/member_e.html Sanbô-Kyôdan Society] ]

The word "Sanbo" (三宝) means the Three Treasures or Three Jewels of Buddhism, the Buddha, the Dharma (teaching) and the Sangha (community of Buddhists following the Dharma). The organization prefers to use "Three Treasures" [http://homepage2.nifty.com/sanbo_zen/top_e.html] rather than "Three Jewels."

The word "Kyodan" is made up of "kyo" (教), meaning teaching, faith,or religion, and "dan" (団), with the literal meaning of sphere, ball, circle, mass, or lump and used in combinations to mean clique, team, group, troupe, corps, or organization. For English translation Sanbo Kyodan itself uses "religious organization" [ [http://homepage2.nifty.com/sanbo_zen/histry_e.html Short History of the Sanbo Kyodan] ] which is the better translation, as the word "organization" refers to the whole circle, sphere, or mass aspect of the group, while "association," which is sometimes used in translation, has a ocnotation focused on the gathering of members rather than on the group as a whole, and the better Japanese word for association, if intended, would have been "kai" (会 the simplified variant of 會).

History

The Sanbo Kyodan school was formally established in 1954 as a Zen Buddhist Religious Foundation [ [http://homepage2.nifty.com/sanbo_zen/histry_e.html Short History] ] by Yasutani Haku'un Roshi, a successor of Harada Daiun Sogaku Roshi. As an independently established Religous Foundation at its founding, Sanbo kyodan was intended to be a Third School of Zen Buddhism specifically for lay practitioners acting as an alternative to the existing two schools of Rinzai and Soto Zen that operated primarily as monastic institutions for the purpose of training a priesthood for local temples who officiated at religious ceremonies but who did not interact significantly with lay people.

Harada Roshi was an established and well respected Soto figure who had also studied extensively with Rinzai masters and received Dharma transmission in both Rinzai and Soto lineages. [Page 148. cite book| last =Ford| first =James Ishmael| authorlink =James Ishmael Ford| coauthors =| title =Zen Master Who?: A Guide to the People and Stories of Zen| publisher =Wisdom Publications| date =2006| location =| pages =| url =http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/70174891&referer=one_hit| doi =| id = | isbn = 0861715098]

Yasutani Roshi, too, was ordained in the Soto School but felt that Soto as a traditional school had become too preoccupied with superficially carrying out Buddhist ceremonies and bogged down with religious bureaucracy [ [http://homepage2.nifty.com/sanbo_zen/histry_e.html Short History] ] . He wanted a deeper personal experience of Buddhism and recognized that the founder of Soto himself, Dogen Zenji in the 13th century, had used and encouraged koan study which, by Yasutani Roshi's time, had become a lost practice within Soto. In 1925 Yasutani met Harada Roshi who was among those within the Soto school leading the way to rediscovery of koan practice. Yasutani Roshi began to engage in koan study with Harada Roshi, and eventurally he became one of Harada's Dharma heirs.

Harada found in Yasutani the perfect vessel for organizing and carrying on his vision of renewed koan practice, while Yasutani found in Harada the perfect teacher who fused the best of both Soto and Rinzai traditions while at the same time sharing and supporting his vision of Zen for the people.

Though thourougly trained and committed to the monastic system Harada Roshi also stepped outside the religous conventions of their day by teaching laypeople on an equal basis with monastics. After WWII with the presence of Americans in Japan, Harada and Yasutani began to teach Western lay people. In 1951 Philip Kapleau began to study with Harada Roshi [Zen Master Who?, page 74.] and later with Yasutani [Zen Master Who? page 152] .

When Sanbo Kyodan was created on January 8, 1954, Yasutani Roshi was the First Abbot. Yasutani believed that his new school embodied the true expression of Dogen's (道元) teachings, employing an equal balance of koan(公案) study and zazen(坐禅) in its curriculum. In the 1950s and 60s Western students such asPhilip Kapleau and Robert Baker Aitken began practice under Yasutani—Kapleau being his first American student.

In 1962 Yasutani began to visit the United States, leading a sesshin first in Hawaii and then Los Angeles, California, continuing to return to the U.S. for frequent visits in the years that followed.

Not all of Yasutani's students belonged within the lay practice of Sanbo Kyodan. Yasutani continued to teach both Rinzai and Soto monastics who continued to stay within their schools of ordination. For example Yasutani gave Dharma transmission to the Soto ordained Taizan Maezumi Roshi, and Maezumi taught the Sanbo Kyodan koan curriculum to his own senior students [Zen Master Who? page 164] .

In 1973,Yamada Koun(山田 耕雲) Roshi became Yasutani's successor as the second abbot of Sanbo Kyodan, taking over the school and allowing Christians to practice in the lineage. Yamada had met Harada Roshi and in 1950 had received the precepts in the Jukai ceremony, and through him Yamada met Yasutani. He bestowed the title of roshi on several Christian students, most notably Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle and Ruben Habito—Habito being the only officially recognized teacher of Sanbo Kyodan in the United States currently.

In 1989 after the passing of YAMADA Kôun Roshi in September, Kubota Akira Ji'un-ken(窪田 慈雲) Roshi became the third Abbot of Sanbo Kyodan as Yamada Koun's successor, serving until 2004, ehrn hr retired.

Today the school is led by Yamada Ryoun(山田 凌雲) Roshi.Spuler, 9-10] Seager, 92-94] Prebish, 16-18] Ford, 183-185]

Koan Practice Curriculum

The school's style of koan prctice is based on that developed by Harada Roshi, who modified the traditional Rinzai koan curriculum derived from Hakuin Ekaku Zenji.

Modern Developments Beyond the Sanbo Kyodan Institution

Sanbo Kyodan has had a great influence on the Zen Ttradition in the West beyond its formal institution.

As it was conceived that the training and leadership of Sanbo Kyodan would be for and by lay people, the changes brought about by Yasutani Roshi, especially embodied in the Zen lineages in the West, may for Zen as a whole ultimately be seen as analogous to either the Protestant or English Reformations.

See also

* Buddhism in the United States
* Christian Zen

Notes

References

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External links

* [http://www.sanbo-zen.org/ www.sanbo-zen.org/]