SOTOZEN-NET

Words of Wisdom from the Head Priest Regarding Sotoshu Teaching Activities in 2009

Head Priest of Sotoshu

Fukuyama Taiho Zenji

In our Sotoshu, we make it a principle to practice in such a way that we live a life based on the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha and the Two Founders, Dogen Zenji and Keizan Zenji.

Let us sit quietly in front of Buddha and regulate our breathing. Let us light a candle and offer a stick of incense that ties us directly to the Buddha. Let us put our hands in gassho and make an offering by chanting the names of the Buddhas and our family ancestors. Doing this morning and evening has the same merit as practicing zazen. I also do this everyday.

Keizan Zenji taught, “If we practice zazen, our minds become clear and the most beautiful aspects of being a person appear.” An expression that radiates from this teaching is “kind speech.” We begin each day with the greeting “Good morning.” Greetings are kind speech through which we pray for each other’s well-being and that strongly tie together the bonds we have with each other.

Present-day society is in disarray and the social situation is one of anxiety and uncertainty where there is unconscionable loss of human lives.

Nevertheless, we must never give up and resign ourselves to this situation. Let us create a society in which we experience the joy of life and the joy of being able to live with others, thereby strengthening our bonds with the Buddha, with other people, and with Nature.

Dogen Zenji encouraged us by saying, “If even one person practices with the strong determination to work for and serve the world, then the whole world will become this way.”

We must truly realize that our body is illuminated by the Buddha’s teaching and is wrapped in the warmth of our ancestors’ happiness. I would like you to speak with the kind speech of the Buddha’s compassionate teaching to those who cry because of loneliness and to those who tremble with anxiety.