Haku’un Yasutani

 

When Philip Kapleau asked Haku’un Yasutani if he believed it were possible for an American to achieve satori during a seven day sesshin. Yasutani replied, “You can get it in one day of sesshin if you’re genuinely determined to and you surrender all your conceptual thinking.”

The Third Step East:116, 117, 118, 119, 127, 151, 152, 156-57, 158, 159, 168,169, 181, 189, 201, 204-208, 209, 212

The Story of Zen: 92, 242, 244, 257, 270, 283-84, 292, 296-301, 312, 336, 350, 359, 368, 369, 381, 411, 430

Daiun Sogaku Harada

“Ho! Ho!” Zen Master Daiun Sogaku Harada is said to have remarked, summoning up his life’s work. “For forty years I have been selling water by the river, and my efforts are totally without merit.”

The Third Step East: 116, 127, 151, 168, 201, 205, 220

The Story of Zen: 242, 257, 297, 299, 336, 359, 381, 402, 430

Sokei-an Sasaki

 

In the apartment, where Sokei-an Sasaki’s students met, there was a framed statement which declared in bold print: “Those who come are received. Those who go are not pursued.”

The Third Step East: 57-71; 9, 10-11, 73, 89, 100, 111, 127, 187, 188

The Story of Zen: 234-40, 251, 266, 280, 298, 424

Nyogen Senzaki

Like D. T. Suzuki, Nyogen Senzaki came to America at the instigation of Soyen Shaku. He stayed because he believed the American psyche was suited to Zen; he considered it more inclined to practical activity than to philosophical speculation.

“Because Buddhism is not a revealed religion,” he wrote, “its wisdom is not derived from any Supreme Being, nor from any agents of His. The Buddhist believes that we must attain wisdom through our own striving, just as we obtain scientific and philosophical knowledge only by independent effort. To attain prajna [wisdom], we strive in meditation and avoid conceptual speculation.”

He felt that the American mind, “with its scientific cast,” was naturally drawn to Zen. “The alert adaptability of the American mind finds in Zen a quite congenial form of spiritual practice.” 

[Nyogen Senzaki portrait by Molly Macnaughton]

The Third Step: 41-56; 9, 59, 61, 67, 69, 102, 111, 113, 114, 115, 116, 122, 127, 138, 148, 149, 150-52, 156, 161, 163, 168, 172

The Story of Zen: 5-6, 229-43, 266, 269, 280-82, 305, 320

D. T. Suzuki

 Through his books and popular lectures, D. T. Suzuki – a student of Soyen Shaku – was largely responsible for introducing Zen to the west.

Alan Watts told of an incident at one of Suzuki’s presentations when “—a member of the audience asked him, ‘Dr. Suzuki, when you use the word “reality,” are you referring to the relative reality of the physical world, or to the absolute reality of the transcendental world?’ He closed his eyes and went into that characteristic attitude which some of his students call ‘doing a Suzuki,’ for no one could tell whether he was in deep meditation or fast asleep. After a minutes’ silence, though it seemed longer, he opened his eyes and said, ‘Yes.’”

[D T Suzuki portrait by Molly Macnaughton]

The Third Step East: 23-39; 9, 10, 21-22, 43, 56, 59, 66, 68, 78, 79-80, 82, 88, 95, 97,98, 101, 102, 103, 112, 113, 121, 127, 135, 147, 148, 158, 168, 172, 203, 204, 237-38

The Story of Zen: 5-6, 13-14, 160, 216-25, 231, 233, 234, 237, 244-47, 249-50, 252, 255, 265, 270, 280-81, 296, 302, 320, 337, 345, 370, 399, 424

Soyen Shaku

 

After completing his formal Zen training in Japan, Soyen Shaku spent three years in Ceylon studying Theravada Buddhism. When it was time to return home, his journey included going from Singapore to Thailand on a steamship. He had almost no money and could only afford to travel as a deck passenger. He still wasn’t used to the tropical heat and the glare of the sun on the open deck of the ship was a misery. There was little water, and he had no food. To make his situation even worse, the ship had to anchor on the coast at the mouth of a river in order to wait for the turn of the tide. The deck passengers were immediately attacked by hordes of mosquitoes. As evening approached, dark clouds appeared in the distance which only made the humidity more oppressive, and he could get no rest because of the heat and the voracious pests. Finally, he found a small area on the deck which provided a little privacy. There he removed most of his clothing and formed it into a cushion. Sitting on it, he entered into meditation allowing the mosquitoes to feed as much as they liked on his bare skin.  For a while the drone of the feeding insects prevented him from achieving samadhi, but eventually he succeeded and his mind became fully concentrated. He was no longer aware of the mosquitoes, the heat, or his thirst. When a rainstorm roused him from his meditation, he heard in the distance a temple bell ringing, and he smiled in contentment. Looking about he saw that a number of bright red wild berries of some kind had fallen about him. Examining them more closely, he discovered they were not berries at all, but mosquitoes so engorged with his blood that they were unable to fly.

[Soyen Shaku portrait by Molly Macnaughton] 

Zen Masters of Japan: 295-99

The Story of Zen: 213-23, 229-34, 337