Soto Zen
(summary courtesy of Soto Zen Buddhist Association www.sbza.org)
Zen evolved from the teachings of the historical Buddha who lived 2500 years ago in India. These teachings spread to China some six hundred years later. Zen (called Ch’an in China) developed in Mahayana Buddhist monasteries in the 7th Century. Japan periodically sent Buddhist monks to study different schools of Chinese Buddhism. In the 12th Century two monks, Myoan Eisai and Eihei Dogen, separately brought Zen Buddhism west to Japan. Dogen returned to Japan to transmit the lineage of Soto Zen Buddhism. Soto Zen centers and sitting groups are active in most major cities in the United States.
What is Soto Zen? Soto Zen was developed in the ninth century by the Chinese Monks Tozan (Ch. Dongshan) and Sozan (Ch. Caoshan), the first syllables of their names making up the subsequent name of the school. It stressed doing meditation without a goal, as everyone is already inherently enlightened. Seated, silent meditation is an expression of this.
Soto Zen Buddhism is distinguished by its focus on the down-to-earth practice. It encourages awareness of the workings of one’s own mind as a means of living mindfully in all areas of daily life – at home, at work and in the community.
In his “Instructions for the Cook,” Dogen taught that cooking and caring for other people were as important as sitting zazen and chanting sutras.
Soto Zen is for those who want to practice Zen in everything they do. In coming face to face with their life in all its aspects, they come to know themselves and find their relationship to all other things. They learn to be truly here and to serve in all ways.
Notable Ancestors
Daiun Sogaku Harada October 13, 1871 – December 12, 1961
Harada studied and received transmission under both the Rinzai and Soto Zen traditions. This diverse training led to Harada’s key contribution of reviving the practice of Koan practice in the Soto Zen School. However, to be clear, Harada should be considered to be aligned to the Soto school in the lineage of Dogen.
Harada was born in Obama City (Fukui Prefecture) on October 13, 1871. On April 8, 1883, Harada Roshi was ordained as a Soto Zen Monk by Harada Sodo Roshi, abbot of the Bukkoku-Ji Temple, and received Dharma transmission on the 8th March 1895. He studied at Soto-shu Daigakurin (now Komazawa University) and graduated in 1901. After graduation, he studied Zen with many Soto masters, such as Akino Kodo Roshi, Oka Sotan Roshi, Hoshimi Tenkai Roshi, Adachi Tatsujun Roshi and Rizai masters such as Unmuken Taigi Sogon Roshi (Master at Ibuka Shogen-Ji) and Kogenshitsu Dokutan Sosan Roshi (Master at Kyoto Nanzen-Ji). From 1911 until 1923, Harada taught at Soto-shu Daigakurin.
Harada became abbot of the Hosshin-Ji Monastery in 1924 and subsequently of the Chisai-in, Ankoku-Ji, Hoon-Ji, Chigen-Ji Monasteries. In 1937 he retired into a hermit while he was Master of the Chigen-Ji Monastery and lived in the Kakusho-ken temple. He died at the age of ninety on December 12, 1961 in Kakusho-ken
Ban Tetsugyu Soin (4 Jun 1910-21 Jan,1996)
Ban Tetsugyu Soin was ordained as a Soto Zen monk in 1917 in Fuchizawa, by the master Engaku Chimyo, from whom he would later receive the transmission of the Dharma. From 1931 to 1938 he practiced at Hossin-ji, which was led by Harada Roshi. It is probably here where he learned the method that combined the practice of koans with the forms of the Soto tradition. He later became a student at Komazawa University, where he graduated in 1941.
In 1947 he became Tanto, the second position in the monastery after the master, in Hosshin-ji monastery. The following year, he held the same position at the Rinzai Hoon-ji monastery in Kyoto. In the same year, he received Dharma Transmission from Master Harada, and became abbot of Soto Tosho-ji Monastery in Tokyo. Subsequently, he founded the Kannon-ji monastery in Iwate and the Tetsugyu-ji in Oita.
Tetsugyu Soin was one of the first Japanese Zen masters to open his doors to Western disciples. Some of these Western students would go on to become accomplished teachers themselves. These include Maura Soshin O’Happellon who gained notoriety by writing about her years spent at Tosho-ji monastery in her diary Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind. Next was Italian Carlo Zendo Tetsugen Serra, who brought Tetsugyu Soin’s teachings to Italy founding the Enso-ji monasteries in Milan and Sanbo-ji in the province of Parma. Finally, there was the American Paul Tesshin Silverman, who, succeeding Tetsugyu Soin as abbot of Tetsugyu-ji, became the first Western abbot of a Japanese monastery in 1993.
Tetsugyu Soin retired as abbot of Tosho-ji in 1992, leaving his position to heir Tetsujyo Deguchi, current abbot of the Tokyo monastery. He died four years later, again in the Japanese capital, at the age of eighty-seven.
Our Teacher
Rev. Silverman was born in Pittsburgh, Pa and graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University. At a young age Silverman went to Asia to pursue various interests in philosophy, art and the martial arts. Part of his training was under the supervision of Zen Master Ban Tetsugyu Roshi. Ban Roshi was the disciple and close student of one of the most important Zen Masters of the 20th century, Harada Daiun Sogaku Roshi. Ban Roshi designated Rev Silverman as his final official dharma heir. He gave Silverman the Buddhist name Tesshin which means “iron heart”.
After several years of running Ban Roshi’s mountain training temple, Tetsugyuji, Tesshin Silverman was named the abbot of the temple 1993. He is the first westerner ever to be named the head of a Zen temple in Japan. Silverman also earned an MBA from Oita University. Although still the functioning head of the temple, Rev. Silverman relocated to the United States in the year 2000. Currently he runs a successful consultancy company in New York. He also currently serves as guiding teacher of Yorktown Zen, works as a volunteer chaplain for multiple organizations, sits on four interfaith committees, and is the Director of the Garden of Hope (Yorktown Heights, NY).