Zenways’ Roots
Zenways is a a non-monastic Zen practice community with roots in the Japanese Rinzai and Soto traditions. This is not a direct lineage chart, but describes some of the significant figures in our background. Note: as our immediate links are with Japan we tend to use the Japanese forms of many of the names below.
Shakyamuni Buddha
(c.563 – c.483 BCE)
The nobleman who went alone into the forest to seek for meaning and discovered a path to liberation. We study the words attributed to him: “I am enlightened together with the great earth and all its sentient beings.”
Mahapajapati
(c.600-480 BCE)
The step-mother of the Buddha who led the way in women committing to a life of spiritual practice, realised her own liberation and taught others right up to her death at the age of 120 years.
Nagarjuna
(c. 150 – c. 250)
Practitioner and philosopher who clarified the middle-way of the Buddhas teachings and the emptiness of all things, leading us to study the phrase, “Form is emptiness; emptiness is form.”
Bodhidharma
(5th or 6th century)
Son of a southern Indian king who brought the teaching to China. Having the following exchange with emperor Wu of Liang:
“What merit have I accumulated by all my wholesome actions in supporting Buddhism? “None whatsoever!
“What then is the essence of Buddhism?”
“Vast emptiness and nothing holy.”
“Who is it then that stands before me?” “I don’t know.”
Daikan Eno
(638-713)
The illiterate woodcutter who realised the way on hearing a monk reciting “the mind that abides nowhere” from the Diamond Sutra and in his own first teaching asked:
“What is your original face before your parents were born?”
Rinzai Branch
Rinzai Gigen
(ND – 866)
The powerful and dynamic founder of the Rinzai school who challenged his students with provocative and confounding teachings like, “If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha.”
Myoso
(1095–1170)
Chinese aristocratic laywoman and earnest practitioner who realised the way and wrote the poem:
Suddenly I found my nose.
My cleverness was like ice melting and tiles crumbling.
Why did Bodhidharma need to come from the west?
The second ancestor did not need to give three bows.
If you still want to ask why Bodhidharma came from the West, You bandits are defeated utterly.
She went on to become a full Zen master in her own right and taught extensively.
Mugai Nyodai
(1223-1298)
Japanese female Zen master, first of a 20 generation lineage of female Zen masters. As a young women she was carrying a worn-out bucket of water when the bottom fell out and she realised enlightenment, writing the poem:
In this way and that I tried to save the old pail
Since the bamboo strip was weakening and about to break Until at last the bottom fell out.
No more water in the pail!
No more moon in the water!
Mugai and her successors established a distinctive meditation practice called “Mirror Zen”.
Daito Kokushi
(1282-1337)
Zen practitioner who had a deep realisation of the way and then spent many years maturing his understanding while living as a homeless person on the streets of Kyoto after which he taught extensively.
Bankei Yotaku
(1622-1693)
After an exhausting and life-threatening period of intense practice, Bankei found what he came to call “The Unborn” and spent the rest of his life pointing this out to others using direct simple teachings and becoming the most popular Japanese Zen master ever.
Hakuin Ekaku
(1686-1769)
Reviver of Rinzai Zen when it was becoming moribund. Hakuin emphasised focussed practice, enlightenment and attention to bodily energetics and vitality. He asked his students: “You know the sound of two hands; now what is the sound of one hand?”
Shinzan Miyamae (1935-2021)
Studied and received permission to teach from Rinzai Zen masters, Kajiura Itsugai and Inaba Shinden. Restored the hermitage of Zen master Bankei Yotaku, creating a practice centre for all who wished to awaken to the way. He was a noted Zen artist.
Soto Branch
Tozan Ryokai
(807–869)
The immediate source of the Soto school of Zen, systematiser and teacher of, “In the darkest night it is perfectly clear; in the dawnlight it is hidden.”
Dogen Kigen
(1200-1252)
Japanese aristocrat who lost his parents at an early age and began monastic practice in his boyhood. He became a successor in a Japanese Rinzai lineage and then travelled to China where he intntly practiced zazen (sitting meditation) under Soto Zen Master Tendo Nyojo. One night he experienced , “The body and mind dropping away” and was confirmed as a Zen master in the Soto lineage and brought the teachings to Japan.
Keizan Jokin
(1268-1325)
Mystic, visionary and practical organiser, Zen master Keizan received the transmissions of the Soto line and a native Japanese Zen School known as the Darumashu. Keizan is revered for promoting women’s Zen practice and for the overall number of his successors.
Gasan Joseki
(1275-1366)
After realising enlightenment studying the statement, “There are two moons,” Gasan taught extensively using the framework of the Five Ranks of Zen Master Tozan, producing a large network of accomplished successors.
Manzan Dohaku
(1636-1715)
Monastic reformer who taught: “Devote yourself utterly to doubting self-examination until you forget where you are or even that you live. This may lead you to feel completely at sea. Yet you must persist in the search for the hearer, sweating, like a dead man, until you are unconscious, a lump of great doubt. But look! That lump will suddenly break up and out of it will leap… the great satori consciousness. It is as if one awoke from the deepest dream, literally returned to life.”
Keido Chisan Koho
(1879-1967)
Abbot of Sojiji, an important Soto Zen training monastery. Received inka (certification of attainment) from Zen masters Sugimoto Dosan (Soto) and Nakahara Nantembo (Rinzai). Was particularly concerned with the status of women in Zen.
Jiyu-Kennett
(1924-1996)
The first Englishwoman to travel to Japan and study in Sojiji monastery. She received Dharma transmission in both the Manzan and Gassan lineages of Soto Zen. Founded and taught at Shasta Abbey in California.
Julian Daizan Skinner (1963-ND)
Zenways guiding teacher. Ordained in Soto Zen and received Dharma transmission from Reverend Master Daishin Morgan. Received Soto inka from Mark Daiji Strathern (his ordination master’s ordination master). Studied the koans of the Inzan branch of Rinzai Zen with Shinzan Miyamae and received his inka. Author of the “Practical Zen” book series.