Sawaki Kōdō

Kōdō Sawaki ( jap. 澤木興道 * 16th June 1880 in Tsu , † 21st December 1965 in Kyoto ) was a Japanese Zen - masters .

Life

Kōdō Sawaki's parents died early, and he grew up in poor conditions - adopted by an uncle and later adopted by others. At 16 he ran away from home to become a monk at Eihei-ji , the main temple of the Soto school . In 1897 he was ordained by Koho Sawada, abbot of Soshin-ji, and took the monk name Kōdō. Long years of practice and wandering followed, later he began to give lectures and to teach the practice of zazen , which at that time was almost forgotten even within the Sōtō school, anew for both laypeople and monks.

In the 1930s he was appointed professor at the prestigious Buddhist Komazawa University , but after the war he also took on responsibility for the Antai-ji , a temple for the practice of zazen, which at that time was still located in northern Kyoto . He earned his nickname "the tramp Kōdō" through his nonstop travels throughout Japan to teach zazen in every place. Sawaki Kōdō died on December 21, 1965 in Antai-ji Monastery.

After his death

His successor as abbot in Antai-ji was Kōshō Uchiyama , who collected and published many of his Zen sayings. Sawaki also had a great influence on Zen in Europe through Taisen Deshimaru , who was ordained by Sawaki shortly before his death.

Although Sawaki ordained numerous monks and nuns, only five monks and three nuns received confirmation of the Dharma ( Shihō ) from him:

• Shūyū Narita (1914-2004) who also had some students from Europe,
• Kōshō Uchiyama (1912-1998), the successor as abbot in the Antai-ji,
• Sodo Yokoyama (1907–1980), a monk famous for living whistling on grass in a park,
• Sato Myoshin , active in Japan,
• Kojun Kishigami (born 1941), lives in Japan in the Mie prefecture , has students in Japan, France and Germany,
• Joshin Kasai (1920–1985), who was particularly familiar with the kesa tradition,
• Kobun Okamoto (born 1925), who also taught kesa sewing, is over 80 years old and still active in Japan.
• Baiko Fukuda , who was often Tenzō (temple cook ) with the Sesshin of Kōdō Sawaki. She died about 30 years ago.

Other important students of Sawaki were

• Genko Kawase (1908–1988), who had her own temple Myōgen-ji in Nagoya , where Sawaki regularly held sesshins
• Sakai Tokugen (1912-1996), the master of Fumon Nakagawa , who worked in Germany (official representative of the Sōtō School for Germany)
• Taisen Deshimaru (1914–1982), who went to France in 1967 and built a rapidly growing sangha in Europe. Founder of the Association Zen Internationale .
• Gudō Nishijima (1919-2014)

Works

Sawaki's comments on the shōdōka have been translated into Western languages. There are also anthologies of his sayings and lectures (see literature).

• Le Chant de l'éveil: Le Shôdôka de Yôka Daishi commenté par un maître zen , éd. Albin Michel, 1999, ISBN 978-2-226-10727-5 , translated by Janine Coursin.
• Engl .: Commentary on the Song of Awakening . Merwin Asia 2014. ISBN 978-1-937385-61-3 .
• German: The song of awakening. Comments on Shôdôka. Angkor Verlag 2016. ISBN 978-3-943839-35-7 .

Published in Japanese (selection):

• 禅 談(Zendan - Zen Stories) , 1938, ISBN 978-4-8046-4021-1
• 坐禅 の 仕 方 と 心得(Zazen no shikata to kokoroe - knowledge about the path of zazen) , 1939
• 禅 に 生 き る(Zen ni ikiru - The Zen life) , reissued under the title 聞 き 書 き(Kiki gaki - What is heard written down) , 1984/2006, ISBN 978-4-06-158639-0
• 道 元 禅 の 神 髄(Dōgen zen no shinzui - The essence of Zen by Master Dōgen ) , 1963

literature

• Kōdō Sawaki: A good day every day . Angkor 2008. ISBN 978-3-936018-57-8
• Kōdō Sawaki: To you. Zen sayings . Angkor 2005, translated by Muhō . ISBN 978-3-936018-40-0
• Kōdō Sawaki: Zen is the greatest lie of all time . Angkor 2005. ISBN 978-3-936018-30-1
• Kōshō Uchiyama: The Zen teaching of the vagabond Kodo . Angkor 2007, translated by Guido Keller and Muhō . ISBN 978-3-936018-51-6

Web links

• Literature by and about Sawaki Kōdō in the catalog of the German National Library
• Detailed account of Sawaki's "Life and Spirit" by Kushiya Shusoku
• Excerpts from "To you", a collection of the sayings of Sawaki compiled by Kosho Uchiyama
• Seven chapters from the "Tramp Kodo", a book with sayings from Sawaki and comments by Uchiyama
• Zen teachings from Kodo Sawaki

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Sawaki is the family name, Kōdō the first name.