Ban Tetsugyu Soin
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Tetsugyu Soin Ban (; 4 June 1910 in Hanamaki, Japan – 21 January 1996 in Tokyo, Japan) was a Japanese Zen master. He was a disciple of the
Soto Zen Soto may refer to: Geography * Soto (Aller), parish in Asturias, Spain * Soto (Las Regueras), parish in Asturias, Spain * Soto, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles * Soto, Russia, a rural locality (a ''selo'') in Megino-Kangalassky District of the Sak ...
Master
Harada Daiun Sogaku was a Sōtō Zen monk who trained under both Sōtō and Rinzai teachers. He became known for his teaching combining methods from both schools. The Harada–Yasutani zen lineage founded by his disciple Hakuun Yasutani has become one of the ma ...
, one of the first Zen teachers to open Zen doctrine to western students.


Biography

Tetsugyu Soin Ban was ordained as a
Soto Zen Soto may refer to: Geography * Soto (Aller), parish in Asturias, Spain * Soto (Las Regueras), parish in Asturias, Spain * Soto, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles * Soto, Russia, a rural locality (a ''selo'') in Megino-Kangalassky District of the Sak ...
monk in 1917, Fuchizawa, by Zen master Chimyo Tanzawa. From 1931 to 1938 Ban trained at
Hosshin-ji is a Soto Zen temple in Obama, Fukui Prefecture, Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends ...
Monastery under Daiun Sogaku Harada, inheriting the Zen style of teaching that combines the Rinzai Zen use of koans with Soto Zen forms. Subsequently, Ban studied at
Komazawa University , abbreviated as 駒大 ''Komadai'', is one of the oldest universities in Japan. Its history starts in 1592, when a seminary was established to be a center of learning for the young Bhikkhu#Monks in Japan, monks of the Sōtō, Sōtō sect, one of ...
, where he graduated in 1941. In 1947 Tetsugyu Ban became ''Tanto'', or Head of Practice, of Hosshin-ji Monastery. One year later, he held the same position at Hoon-ji, a Rinzai temple in Kyoto. Ban received Dharma transmission from Harada Daiun Sogaku and founded the Soto Zen temple Tosho-ji, in Tokyo. In the following years, Ban also founded the Soto Zen temple
Kannon-ji
in Iwate Prefecture and Tetsugyu-ji, in Oita Prefecture. Tetsugyu Ban was one of the first Zen masters to open the doors of the Japanese Zen monastery to European and American disciples. One well-known disciple was Maura Soshin O'Halloran, an Irish-American Buddhist nun who wrote about Zen training at Kannon-ji and Tosho-ji in her diary ''Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind,'' in which she refers to Ban Roshi with the honorific title "Go-Roshi." Another disciple is the American Zen teacher Paul Tesshin Silverman, who, succeeded Tetsugyu Ban as the abbot of Tetsugyu-ji in 1993, becoming the first western abbot of a Japanese monastery. It was Roshi Ban Tetsugyu who suggested to Chinese Chan Master Sheng Yen in the 1970s that he go to teach in America, which he did in 1975 - see Sheng Yen's ''Getting the Buddha Mind''. Tetsugyu Soin died on January 21, 1996, after a life dedicated to spreading Zen in Japan and beyond.


Bibliography

* * * *


Sources

* * Sheng Yen (1982) ''Getting the Buddha Mind''. New York: Dharma Drum Publications


References


External links


Tetsugyuji International Zen Center

Kannon-ji
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ban, Tetsugyu Soin 1910 births 1996 deaths Japanese Zen Buddhists Japanese Buddhist clergy People from Hanamaki, Iwate People from Iwate Prefecture 20th-century Buddhist monks