Ryōmō Kyōkai (両忘協会 "Ryōmō Society",Janine Sawada, ''Practical Pursuits''. pp.157-161. University of Honolulu Press, was a lay

Rinzai The Rinzai school (, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng), named after Linji Yixuan (Romaji: Rinzai Gigen, died 866 CE) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism, along with Sōtō and Ōbaku. The Chinese Linji school of ...

Zen Buddhist Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

Dharma center located in

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

History

Intellectual society

Ryōmō Kyōkai means "Association for the Abandonment of the Concepts of Objectivity and Subjectivity". It was founded at the beginning of the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, when Japan started to modernize: It attracted figures such as Imakita Kōsen (1816–1892) (abbot of the Rinzai

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

Engakuji, and teacher of

Soyen Shaku Soyen Shaku (, January 10, 1860 – October 29, 1919; written in modern Japanese ''Shaku Sōen'' or ''Kōgaku Shaku Sōen'') was the first Zen Buddhist master to teach in the United States. He was a rōshi of the Rinzai school and was abbot of bo ...

), Nakajima Nobuyuki, Kawajiri Hōkin, and Nakae Chomin (1847–1901). Kōsen was its honorary leader but not its founder. It served as an intellectual society for the discussion of Buddhism and

zazen ''Zazen'' is a meditative discipline that is typically the primary practice of the Zen Buddhist tradition. The generalized Japanese term for meditation is 瞑想 (''meisō''); however, ''zazen'' has been used informally to include all forms ...

practice. The rules of the society were as follows: # Members could discuss anything they wanted except politics and "worldly affairs". # Meals were limited to rice,

sake Sake, , or saki, also referred to as Japanese rice wine, is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indeed any East Asi ...

, and three bowls of vegetables. # Participants would be honest and polite. # New participants would be introduced by an existing member and affirm their vows every month.

Lay practice

Ryōmō Kyōkai was revived by Tetsuo Sōkatsu, dharma descendant of

. The revival was more frequently called "Ryōbō Zen Kyōkai" or "Ryōbō Kai" in Japan, owing to a more modern

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

reading. Tetsuo Sōkatsu received the name ''Ryobo-an'' from Ryoga-kutsu Roshi. He opened Ryōbō Kai for lay practitioners, and went so far as to give dharma transmission to lay practitioners, which before was restricted to priests. In 1906 Sōkatsu traveled to the USA with a group of students, among them Sokei-an Sasaki and

Gotō Zuigan was a Buddhist Rinzai Zen master#Rinzai, Zen master the chief abbot of Myōshin-ji and Daitoku-ji temples, and a past president of Hanazono University of Kyoto, also known as "Rinzai University." Biography Zuigan was influential in the develo ...

, who would become two of his dharma heirs. A branch was established on Sutter Street in San Francisco after Sōkatsu arrived in America. It attracted lay Buddhists and possibly inspired the form of Zen practice centers throughout the Western world.Sharf, Robert. "The Zen of Japanese Nationalism." In ''The Curators of the Buddha: The Study of Buddhism under Colonialism'', ed. Donald S. Lopez. Chicago: U Chicago Press, 1995. Sōkatsu stayed in the USA four years before returning to Japan, leaving only Sokei-an behind. Sokei-an lived most of his adult life in the United States, returning to Japan only briefly on four occasions, principally to complete his Zen training and receive his final dharma transmission from Sōkatsu. In 1930 he established the Buddhist Society of America in New York City, initially as a branch of Ryōmō Kyōkai; this was renamed the First Zen Institute of America after World War II, and continues to this day, in spite of having no resident teacher. The Japanese revival was disbanded after World War II,Ningen-shu History
and the San Francisco branch likely was lost during the

Japanese American internment During World War II, the United States forcibly relocated and incarcerated about 120,000 people of Japanese descent in ten concentration camps operated by the War Relocation Authority (WRA), mostly in the western interior of the country. Abou ...

Ningen Zen Kyodan

Ryobo-an Roshi gave dharma transmission to Koun-an Tatsuta Eizan Roshi, Ichimu-an Ohazama Chikudo Roshi, Gotō Zuigan Roshi, and Sokei-an Sasaki Shigetsu Roshi. Koun-an Roshi founded ''Ningen Zen'', "Zen cultivation of the human spirit". The ''Ningen Zen Kyodan''. Its mission is "to establish an earthly paradise". In this, it sees itself as "essentially different from the traditional Zen Buddhists who aimed principally at Dharma-transmission for the sake of Dharma-transmission". The ''Ningen Zen Kyodan'' has sixteen groups and sixteen meditation centers, and twelve Zen masters, who received dharma transmission from Koun-an Roshi.

References

External links

Ningen Zen Kyodan webpage
{{Buddhism topics Zen Buddhist organizations Buddhist organizations based in Japan Rinzai school