Fumon Shōju Nakagawa

Fumon Shōju Nakagawa

Fumon Shōju Nakagawa ( Japanese 中 川 正 壽 , Nakagawa Shōju ; born in 1947 in Kyōto , Japan ) is a Soto priest and abbot of the Daihi Shobozan Kosho Fumonji monastery in Eisenbuch in the Altötting district .

Personal history

Japan

As a teenager, Nakagawa had his first contact and experience with Zen with Soko Morinaga , Kosho Uchiyama and one of his later teachers, Tokugen Sakai, and practiced studying the Dharma speeches of Kodo Sawaki . He completed his studies in Western philosophy at Keiō University in Tokyo and Zen Buddhology at Komazawa University with a master's degree .

In 1970 he received his monk ordination from Tokugen Sakai in Myogen-ji, Nagoya . His personal teachers were Sakai and Genko Kawase, both direct students of Kodo Sawaki. Then he learned his monastery training in Eihei-ji , one of the two main monasteries of the Soto Zen school. Eventually he became abbot of the Shinryu-an Zen temple in Tokyo.

Germany

In 1979 Nakagawa moved to Germany and taught in the Zen hermitage Jikishin-an in the Bavarian Allgäu , was initially a Zen teacher in the Zen house "Obermühle" from 1980, then from 1984 in the Bavarian Allgäu in the Zen hermitage Jikishin-an active. In 1987 he founded the city center of Jikishin-an in Munich.

In the 1990s he met the Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh , dealt with his loving mindfulness practice "Healing as a Buddhaweg" and became a member of his order "Inter-Being".

In 1996 he founded the Zen center Daihizan Fumonji in Eisenbuch. The honorary founder was Ekiho Miyazaki , 78th Dharma ancestor and chief abbot of the main Soto monastery Eihei-ji. In 2006 Nakagawa was appointed abbot of Daihi Shobozan Kosho Fumonji monastery with the blessing of Miyazaki Zenji.

In 2007 the Saddharma Sangha (Shobo-Kai) was founded in Fumonji.

Teaching

Nakagawa sees the Zen path as a deep religious practice that leads people to themselves within themselves. The practitioner experiences a training which enables him to explore himself and to recognize the true self. In this way he should also adequately face the needs and problems of himself and of society as a whole: deal with them in a healthy manner and undertake further training.

Nakagawa cultivates the forms handed down from tradition and particularly emphasizes the importance of sitting, of zazen . This is expressed in intensive practice times in the monastery. If the Fumonji Monastery sees itself as a place for a “wholesome life”, it is expressed as follows: The development of the human being has both the spiritual unfolding and the wholesome contact with one's own body and mind and with everything as the goal.

Nakagawa wants to convey the traditional Soto Zen practice in such a way that it corresponds to the spiritual needs and modern living conditions of people in the West. Buddhist traditions should be authentically cultivated and redesigned in the process.

The 21 Fumonji- Shila based on the Mahayana tradition are guiding statements that serve to deal with one's own life; Sangha members accept the Shila in a ceremony and recite and practice it. They act as essential orientation marks and pillars for everyday life.

In study courses and study groups, Nakagawa demands that the teaching statements of the texts be studied in such a way that they relate to oneself and that they have a deep and spiritually enriching effect on one's everyday life. The Shobogenzo , Dogen Zenji (1200-1253) masterpiece, is central to the text studies.

Since 2017, Nakagawa has also been a shakuhachi master of the Kinko school (Reibo-Kai).

The Eisenbuch Zen Center

The Zen center Eisenbuch Daihishobazan Kosho Fumonji, founded by Nakagawa in 1996 ("Mountain of great compassion and true Dharma, flourishing of holy Buddhadharma, site of the universal gate") is located about 110 km east of Munich in the Altötting district. Following the Lotus Sutra (chap. 25, Kannon fumon-bon), it wants to be a “universal gateway” (Fumon) to compassion and wisdom. It sees itself as a place of spiritual practice for teaching and training in an intercultural framework, a practice that is always aimed at everyday life.

Today the center is the first authorized Soto Zen monastery in Europe; it is in the direct line of tradition of the main Soto monastery Eihei-ji in Japan. The members of the Saddharma Sangha come from Germany and other countries.

The Zen center currently offers Zen introductory courses, sesshins, study courses and Zen retreats "Wholesome Living".

Publications

• Zen - because we are human. Theseus-Verlag, Berlin 1997. 3rd edition 2010. ISBN 978-3-89901-240-8

Brochures from the Zen Monastery of Eisenbuch

• Living teaching. The Meaning of Zen Master Doge. Instructions for our time. Zen Center Eisenbuch, 2000.
• Practice of zen. Zazen - the doing of the Buddha. Mindfulness exercises in everyday life. Zen Center Eisenbuch 2001.
• Zen dynamics. Buddha and Doge here and now. Daihizan Fumonji Zen Monastery, Eisenbuch 2006
• 21 Shilas of the Saddharma Sangha. With comments by Fumon S. Nakagawa Roshi. Daihizan Fumonji Zen Monastery, Eisenbuch 2013

items

• Death from the point of view of Zen. In: DBU (ed.): In the mirror of death. DBU, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-9804620-0-5
• Mindfulness exercises in everyday life. In: Arndt Büssing (ed.): Rain over the pines , Mayer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-932386-48-5
• Karma and rebirth. In: Richard, U. and Stürzer, M. (Hg): Karma and rebirth. Theseus Verlag, Berlin 2004. S. 58ff. ISBN 3-89620-233-2
• Add. m. Relia Wecker: Awaken the healing power in us. In: Buddhismus aktuell 4/2005, 16–19.
• The five considerations (on the subject of nutrition). Cause & Effect, April 2008, p. 26
• Nuclear Disaster in Japan - What Can We Do? Buddhism News 2/2012. P. 38 f.

Web links

• Zen Center Eisenbuch
• Buddha's ambassador in the Free State