Yamada_Koun

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In Memoriam: Yamada Kun Rshi (1907-1989)Author(s): Ruben L. F. Habito

Source: Buddhist-Christian Studies, Vol. 10 (1990), pp. 231-237Published by: University of Hawai'i PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1390209

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IN MEMORIAM

YamadaK6un R6shi(1907-1989)

NO LONGER BUDDHIST NOR CHRISTIANIn 1970 YamadaK6un R6shibecamehead of the Sanb6-Ky6dan Orderof theThreeTreasures),havingsucceededYasutaniHakuun, who had designatedhimofficial Dharma Successormany yearsearlier.At that time the Zen meditationhail establishedat the lot adjacentto his modest home, called San-unZend6 orthe Zen Hall of the Three Clouds, was becoming an activeZen center whereJapaneseand non-Japanesecongregatedregularly o do zazen (sittingZen med-itation), listen to teish6 (exhortatory alks given by the Zen Master to practi-tioners), and receivedokusan(individualinterviewswith the Master).Myown first encounter with Zen was not until the springof 1971, at Enga-kuji, a Rinzaimonasterywhere D. T. Suzuki had trained. Soon afterward wasintroduced to the San-un Zendd by FatherThomas Hand, S. J., my spiritualdirectorat theJesuit languageschoolwhereI wasstayingand learningJapaneselanguage and culture. FatherHand was himself a regular"sitter"~ nd discipleof YamadaR6shi.This Zen Hall progressivelybecame a spiritualcenter for men and women ofa wide range of origins, interest, and even religious affiliations. It was heldtogether as a community by the dynamicand winning personalityof our ZenBuddhist- hristiantudies 0 1990). ? byUniversityf Hawaii ress.Allrightseserved.


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232 IN MEMORIAM

Master,Yamada Koun Roshi, assisted by his vivaciousand solicitous wife, inwhom especially the non-Japanese ound a true mother away from home, andwhom we all endearinglycalled Okusamathe Japaneseterm for "Mrs.",butliterally,"the venerableone inside the house").This small Zen community based in a little cornerof the scenic and historic

city of Kamakuracontinued to prosper,and its reputation graduallyspreadbeyondJapan through all partsof the globe, enticing scoresof earnestseekersfromacross he seas to come and stayeither on a long-term basis or periodically,especiallyduring the summer months, in order to be close to the R6shi and tobe able to participate n the regularsesshin rZen retreatsheld five orsix timesduringthe year.This Zen community actually traces ts roots to the initiative of Zen MasterHaradaSogaku (Dai-un or Great Cloud), who, though a Soto monk, was dis-satisfied with the state of Soto Zen during his time, and went over for k6antrainingwith RinzaiMasters.Based on his insider'sexperienceof the best of thetwo Zen schools, HaradaR6shi then organizeda rigoroustraining program orhis disciples consistingof six to seven hundred koan.He handed this practicedown to his DharmaSuccessor,YasutaniHankuun(White Cloud), who refinedit and passed it on to YamadaK6un (Cultivatorof Clouds).

This training programbegins with an intense initial period that gears theseekertowarda genuine experienceof realization(calledkensho r "seeingintoone's own nature"). YamadaRoshi'sspecialcharismawas his magnetic way ofdirecting each seeker, especiallyin the initial stages, towardthe fundamentaland decisive kenshoexperience. However,what he brought to bear on everyko-an n the post-kenshotages also testified to the breadth and depth of hisZen vision. I rememberinstancesof going through particularkoanwith himwherein he would say, "HaradaR6shi understood it this way. YasutaniRoshisawit this way.I would do it this way,"thus opening up new treasures or thepractitioner.The impactof YamadaR6shi'sZen life and teachingon the rest of the worldis beginning to make itself felt, as the disciples whom he personallytrained,during his two decades of active directorshipof San-unZendo, take uponthemselvesthe taskof directing their own Zen groupsin different partsof theglobe. Someof these new groupsarealready hrivingZen communitiesin theirrespectiveareas,such as those directedby RobertAitken, Roshiin Hawaii, andthe variousgroups under Yamada R6shi'sEuropeandisciples beginning withBrigitteD'OrtschyRoshi andothers.After his passingon September 13, 1989, a document wasfound among hisfiles with a list of the Zen namesthat he himself gave to his non-Japanesedisci-ples who had finished the koan rainingunder his direction.The thirdcharac-ter found in each name is either ken, meaning "house" or "lineage," or an,meaning "hermitage,"the former accorded o men, the latterto women. Thelist is as follows:


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IN MEMORIAM 233

U.S.A.Aitken, Robert-Gyo-un Ken (Dawn-Cloud)Habito, Ruben-Kei-un Ken (Grace-Cloud)

CANADAStone, Roselyn-Sei-un An (ClearCloud)INDIA

Samy,AMA-Gen-un Ken (DarkCloud)PHILIPPINES

MacInnes,Elaine-Ko-un An (Shining Cloud)Golez, Mila-Gyoku-un An (JewelCloud)Punzalan, Sonia-Shia-ni An (EssenceSister)

EUROPEBrantschen,Niklaus-Go-un Ken (Enlightenment Cloud)Fabian, Ludwigis-Ko-un An (FragranceCloud)Jager, Willigis-Ko-un Ken (Empty Cloud)Kern, Heidi-Heki-un An (Blue Cloud)Kopp, Johannes-H6-un Ken (DharmaCloud)Lassalle,Hugo-Ai-un Ken (LoveCloud)Lengsfeld, Peter-Ch6-un Ken (Highest Cloud)Low, Victor-Yui-un Ken (EternalCloud)Meyer,Gundula-Zui-un An (FelicitousCloud)D'Ortschy,Brigitte-Ko-un An (Shining Cloud)Rieck,Joan-Jo-un An (PureCloud)Schliitter,Ana Maria-Ki-un An (RadiantCloud)

JAPANReiley,Kathleen-Sei-un An (ImmaculateCloud)Shepherd, Paul-Cho-un Ken (TransparentCloud)Loy,David-Tetsu-un Ken (Wisdom Cloud)This is only a partial ist, and does not include the manyJapanesepractition-erswho have finished koanpractice n the existingsisterZen groupsin Kyushu,

Osaka, Tokyo, Hokkaido, and so on. Manyof the Japanesewho have finishednow serveas eldersin the KamakuraZen community, helping out in the intro-ductorytalks,and managementof sittingsessionsand retreats.UnfortunatelyYamadaKoun Roshi was not able to make public before hisdeath his own choice of who would be his main DharmaSuccessor rom amongthe many disciples he had seen through the long rigorous training program,and so the Boardof Directorsof the Sanbo-Kyodandecided to name Kubota(Akira)Ji'un, Roshi, as the new head of the group. He had also received train-ing under YasutaniRoshiand had been helping to give directionto the Kama-kura San-un Zendo since the late 1960s. He will be assisted by Yamada(Masamichi)Ryoun, son of the late YamadaRoshi.Looking backat the nearlytwo decadesof workwith YamadaKoun, R6shi, I


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234 IN MEMORIAM

note three points which can be regardedas his unique and distinct contributionas a Zen master.The first point is what we can term the "laicization"of Zen,that is, breakingthe wall between "monastic"and "lay" in Zen life and disci-pline. In contrast with his predecessorsHarada and Yasutani, YamadaRoshihimself was never a Zen monk nor a temple priest (although it is said that hehad received Buddhist preliminaryordination). He was primarilya man well-versedin worldly affairs, n business, in legal matters,and in medical adminis-tration,and was the fatherof a familywith grown-upchildren.Up to the time of his illnesshe was Directorof the Kenbikyo-in, a clinic andPublic Health Facility n Tokyowhose main function was the diagnosisof out-patients, and Mrs.(Kazue)Yamada s its medical director.He commuted dailyfrom his residence in Kamakurawith the thousands of Japanese commutersfrom the surroundingareas. He was also generous with his time in his office toreceivesome of his disciplesin dokusarn ven during ordinarydaysof the week.(Foremostamong these dokusan lients for many years was Father Hugo Eno-miya Lassalle,SJ., assiduous n his &ian tudies even as he approached he ageof ninety.)The Zen community that grew and developed under his direction was alsoprimarilya lay community, though there were some Buddhist monks and tem-ple priests among the members. Although there were many Catholic priestsand sistersand Protestantpastors among the non-Japanese,there was a perva-sivespiritof lay practice n his center. The significanceof this cannot be overes-timated. In the history of Buddhism, lay personshave alwaysbeen regardedas"second-class itizens,"while those who have renounced worldly ife and livedthe monastic ife have been regardedasones on the direct path towardthe goalof enlightenment. To a great extent this monastic flavorpredominatesin theimage of Zen transmitted o the Westernworld.

YamadaR6shi'sentire life and teaching as a Zen Master,however, as well asthe Zen community that received nourishment from his life and teaching, dis-solved the distinctions between "monastic" and "lay," or further, between"religious"and "secular." n his talks, YamadaR6shi would frequentlyreferto"Yuima-koji" or "the lay person Vimalakirti,"central charactern the Vima-lakfrti-nirde&agtra, who as a lay personembodied the highest attainment ofBuddhist enlightenment, winning overand becoming the teacherof monasticdisciples. YamadaRoshi made it clear that the central function of Zen is tobreakthroughsuch distinctionsand embody the highest attainment of enlight-enment in the ordinary vents of human life.This is also what lay behind YamadaRoshi's requent insistence that the trulyaccomplishedZen personis the one who has thrown out everybit of self-con-sciousness about enlightenment itself, and is simply back to living life in itsordinariness,with one significantdifference:that the ego no longer comes tothe fore to marthe tasks. Thus he intended that the long and rigorousprocessof kooantudy should accomplishthe whittling down of that ego to its originalnothingness.


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IN MEMORIAM 235The second point to be noted in YamadaRoshi's Zen life and teaching was

concernwith the social dimension of human existence. This he regardedas theoutflow coming from the wisdom of enlightenment-of seeing the nature ofthings as they really are in their emptiness and mutual interconnectedness.Compassion s grounded in realizingonenesswith all living beings, in all theirjoys and hopes, in all their sorrowsand pains. In his teisho as well as in hisopening comments in Kyosho (Dawn Bell), the bi-monthly journal of theSainboKyodan, he discussednot only specificZen topics, but also frequentlyreferred o political, economic, and social issues, voicing his concern about pov-erty and a militarized globe-calling upon world leaders to take more seriouslytheir tasks of peace. He sometimes spoke of the impossible dream of gettingthese world leaders together in a "Zen summit" to tackle together the crucialproblems confrontinghumankind basedon a Zen processof self-emptying.But YamadaR6shi's Zen life is going to make its impact on the rest of theworldmost probablyfor his third contribution to world culture:he was able tobreakthe traditionalsectarianbarriers hat separatedBuddhists and Christians,encouragingthe rise of a Zen community composed of both devout Buddhistsand equally devout and practicingChristians. In the list of those who havecompleted k6a,ntraining and have been given Zen names, the majorityareChristianpriestsand nuns. This calls for a reorderingof ourstereotypednotionsof Zen, of Buddhism,of Christianity.ReverendWilligisJager, O.S.B. (Ko-un Ken), who had spent many years nZen trainingunder YamadaR6shiin Kamakuraand now directsZen groupsinGermany,commented at the 1987 InternationalBuddhist Christian Confer-ence held at Berkeley,with YamadaR6shihimself presentin the panel as one ofthe keynote speakers:"Manycan arguewhethera Christiancan validly do ZenorteachZen, or not. The fact is, I am doing it."

I recallthat this was a point of contention when I began to receive directionunder YamadaR6shi almost two decades ago. At that time there were severalCatholic sistersand priestswho were avid disciples sitting regularlyat San-unZendo, but not one had passed throughthe initial barrier f the kensho experi-ence. In the introductory alks initiating me into discipleship (called sosan nohanashi, or talks to be heardby all), one of the assistantsgiving the talk lookedat me from the cornerof his eye (at the time I wasaJesuit seminarianstudyingfor the priesthood) and referred to Christiansas doing gedo or "outside theway" Zen, whichmeant that they were not doing it in the properway.This was a view expressedalso by YasutaniR6shi, who often criticizedChris-tians for theirattachmentto the conceptof God as an obstaclein attainment ofenlightenment. He urgedthem to castawaythis concept if they reallymeant topractice genuine Zen. The discipleswho came to YasutaniRoshi were advisedto follow the Buddhistwayand urged to take the precepts, if they were to pur-sue the genuine path of Zen.But YamadaR6shi received the Christiansas they were, without requiringthem to change their religious status, but he was as emphatic nevertheless


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236 IN MEMORIAMabout non-attachmentto ideasorconceptsand stressed hatZen is not a philos-ophy or schoolof thought, but a wayof pure experience,independent of men-tal concepts. Given the proper guidance, a person assiduousin practicecouldbe led to that pure and genuine Zen experience, whether that person were aprofessed Buddhist Christian,or what. He stressedthe point that Zen practicemakes the Buddhist more fully a Buddhist, and suggested that the Christiancould be a better Christianby living the Zen life.This assuranceand encouragement from the R6shi bore its fruit, and oneafter another, his disciples who were practicingChristianswere confirmed intheir kensho experience. And in the post-kensho5 c3anraining, there was nodistinction made in the religious affiliation of the practitioner:YamadaR6shitermedthis partof the practiceas the processof "washingaway"the remainingbits of the ego and of polishing awaythe sheen and glitter of the enlighten-ment experienceto enable the practitioner o be more fully rooted in the ordi-narinessof life. In this aspectthere was no longer any distinctionof Buddhist orChristian,male or female, young or old, but simply the encounterwith barefactsof human experiencethat everykoan would highlight in a very particularand concreteway. In my own personal case, entry into the world of Zen afterthe initial kensho experiencethrew freshlight on my readingof texts of Chris-tian scripture, eadingme to a new and livingencounterwith these texts.At regular esshin at San-unZendo, at least a fourth of the fifty or so partici-pants would be practicingChristians.We were allowed to have a Eucharisticcelebration n a separateroomwhile the Buddhistswere in the main hall recit-ing the morning sutras. It was in these very intimate Eucharisticcelebrationsduringsesshin that Christian iturgical expressionscame alivewith cosmic, andat the sametime quite concrete, significance.I myself personallymade it a point to communicateto YamadaR6shi, by let-terand by directconversation, he newerand newer vistasI wasreceiving n myunderstandingof the Christianmystery n the light of my Zen experience,andit was likewise a joy to me that he himself gradually became more and moreappreciativeof those dimensionsof the Christianreligioustradition that some-how reverberated hemes in the world of Zen, and he took up some of thesethemes in his own teisho now and then.YamadaR6shi'sZen life and teaching, in short, was simply a bringing to itsfull implications the key principle in Zen of "no reliance on words or con-cepts,"whichmeans that it is a call to a constant returnto the fundamentalZenexperience,the experienceof the worldof emptiness("karappono sekai"as hewould frequently repeat in Japanese, even while he was on his sick-bedin themonths preceding his passing). In this world of emptiness there is no longerBuddhist norChristian,but simply,"Haveyou eaten?" "Yes,sir." "Thenwashyourbowls!" RubenL. F.HabitoPerkinsSchoolof TheologySouthernMethodistUniversity


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IN MEMORIAM 237Editor'sNote: A number of Yamada Roshi's students have written about thelife of Zen: for example, see Ruben Habito, TotalLiberation: en Spiritualityand theSocialDimension (New York:Orbis Books, 1989); and RobertAitken,Takinghe Path of Zen and TheMindof CloverSan Francisco:North PointPress, 1982 and 1984).

Father Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle, . J., and Brigitte D'Ortschy passed awayinJuly 1990.

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