What does it take to be a full fledged Soto priest?

Unsui rules OK!

This will be the final part of this little series. I hope you got an idea of my idea of the Soto idea and reality of practice. This last part relates to practice in a formal priest seminary, the so-called sôdô-ango. I wrote about it alread…

About the meaning of the vertical and horizontal structure of the sangha

First, there is an interesting discussion that is connected to the topic of this and past articles over at the Zen Forum International: KNOCKING DOWN MONASTERY WALLS. During the past articles of this “What does it take…”-series, I tried to…

What do I have to believe in to become a monk, and when do I get my dharma transmission?

Sometimes people ask me: “What believes do I have to commit to if a become a Buddhist monk at Antaiji? What sutras or prayers do I have to remember to qualify?” An interesting question. Or maybe I should rather say: Interesting that someon…

Back to the topic!

First of all, my friend in Ofunato is alive. The area where his house stood has been completely destroyed, but he managed to escape together with his 80year old mother. He left his cell phone in the house though, and it was not until April…

Muho the Zen Nazi!

A Zenmaster wakes up one winter morning, and when his assitant opens the paper screens of the windows, he exclaims:“Master, we have snow, lots of snow!”The master asks:“How much snow?”“I have no idea how deep it is, but horizontally, it ex…

Sessa-takuma – ango as life in a rock grinder

Last year I started with this series on the nitty-gritty of studying Zen in the Japanese Soto school. The question I am dealing with has two parts: “What does it take to become a full-fledged Soto-shu priest?” and “Is it really worth the w…

Zui-se – abbot for the night

In the September issue we had a look at what kind of kufû (effort) a real-life Japanese Zen-master does during zazen, in this case when it comes to improving the posture and dealing with sleep. Now let us get back to the steps in the carri…

Ten-e and some words about Zui-se

We have now reached steps 4 and 5 in the carrier of a monk. In a booklet that arrived the other day from the headquarters in Tokyo, I found the picture below that divides the carrier of a priest into ten steps, starting with birth and endi…

Ten points to keep in mind about dharma transmission

Before we start, some more things about the physics of zazen. I received an e-mail from Al Coleman of Hey Bro! Can You Spare Some Change?: “I found two books that you might be interested in regarding posture. They take an anthropological a…

What does it take to become a full-fledged Soto-shu priest and is it really worth the whole deal? (1)

In the tenth chapter of the Gakudôyôjinshû, Dogen Zenji says that there are two ways to define oneself in body and mind. One is to delve into and explore zazen, the other is to meet a teacher and listen to the dharma. Both, Dogen says, are…