Taisen Deshimaru

was a Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhist teacher, who founded the Association Zen Internationale.

Biography

Early life Born in the Saga Prefecture of Kyūshū, Deshimaru was raised by his grandfather, a former Samurai before the Meiji Revolution, and by his mother, a devout follower of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism. Interested in the world, he abandoned his mother's practices and studied Christianity for a long while under a Protestant minister before ultimately deciding that it was not for him either. He returned to Buddhism and eventually came into contact with Rinzai teachings.

Eventually, he also grew distant from Rinzai Buddhism and was unsatisfied by his life as a businessman. In 1935, when he was studying economics in Tokyo, Deshimaru began to practice under Sōtō Zen Master Kodo Sawaki.

Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor, his master predicted that Japan would lose the war. When Deshimaru departed from his Master, Kodo said "Our homeland will be destroyed, our people annihilated . . . and this may be the last time we see one another. Nevertheless, love all mankind regardless of race or creed."

War years Deshimaru was exempted from the Imperial Japanese Army because of his near-sightedness. He went to the island of Bangka, Indonesia, to direct a copper mine. There he taught the practice of zazen to the Chinese, Indonesian, and European inhabitants. He defended inhabitants against the violence of his own people, and was therefore almost thrown in jail, in which case he would have been released by "the highest military authorities in Japan". In the 1970s, his mission grew. In 1970 Deshimaru received dharma transmission from Master Yamada Reirin. Kosen Thibaut, dharma transmission from Niwa Zenji in 1984. Robert Livingston Master Sando Kaisen

Books Za-Zen, the practice of the Zen Sit: Zen Teachings of Master Taisen Deshimaru The Ring of the Way: Testament of a Zen Master Questions to a Zen Master The Zen Way To Martial Arts The Way of True Zen The Voice of the Valley Mushotoku Mind: The Heart of the Heart Sutra