Question

I would like to know why Master Kosen received the Shiho from the lineage of Master Niwa Zenji rather than from the lineage of Master Kodo Sawaki or Narita Shuyu Roshi ?

Answer from Master Kosen

To receive the Shiho from the lineage of Kodo, my master would have to have given it to me before dying, but he did not had time to give it to anybody. Similarly, Kodo, when he died, had not the time to give it to Deshimaru. Deshimaru received the shiho later, from the highest zen authority in Japan, Master Hata Zenji, abbot of the Eihei-ji temple at that time. I followed the same path, because only a master like Niwa Zenji, abbot of Eihei-ji at my time, could replace a master like Deshimaru. And why didn't I choose Narita Roshi to receive the shiho? Why take a deux-chevaux (famous French car, very cheap, the cheapest) when one can offer oneself a Porsche?

Mondo On the same theme : Transmission


"Well, the ones who love so much to quote the words of Kodo Sawaki in their kusen, why don't they have the idea to imitate sometimes his acts?

"Well, the ones who love so much to quote the words of Kodo Sawaki in their kusen, why don't they have the idea to imitate sometimes his acts? Himself, he precisely received the shiho of the successor of his master, old time fellow-student. Despite the fact that in his youth there was a relationship of competition, he did it with humility, as he...


Shiho

I would like to know why Master Kosen received the Shiho from the lineage of Master Niwa Zenji rather than from the lineage of Master Kodo Sawaki or Narita Shuyu Roshi ?
...


To know more about mondo

You may want to see other themes of this mondo online, or ask your own question : see Mondo online : questions to zen Master Kosen Thibaut

Subscribe to our YouTube channel


Zen meditation : retreats

Next sesshin : from 01 March 2025 to 02 March 2025 - Information and registration to this zen retreat

Amsterdam Sewing the Kesa 2025


Authentic reality, vulgarity are only words in a dream, Buddha and living beings, random forms, When you are here, bring back your light towards the inside. Enlighten the surroundings. Open your hands and refuse nothing.

Fuyo Dokai

Donate to the Sangha

Let's help the Kosen Sangha and the Yujo Nyusanji zen temple


Mondo

Questions to zen Master Kosen

Boddidharma, buddhist monk

Master Kosen

Follow his teachings in the Montpellier Zen dojo and in the great sesshins at Yujo Nyusanji zen temple


Kusens

Listen to and download last teachings (in french) of Master Kosen in Montpellier's dojo