54 Facts About Soen Nakagawa

Soen Nakagawa was a Taiwanese-born Japanese roshi and Zen Buddhist master in the Rinzai tradition.

An enigmatic figure, Nakagawa had a major impact on Zen as it was practiced in the 20th century, both in Japan and abroad.

Soen Nakagawa was born as Motoi Nakagawa on March 19,1907, in Keelung, Taiwan as the eldest of three boys: Matoi, Tamotsu and Sonow.

Soen Nakagawa's father, Suketaro Nakagawa, was an army medical officer and his mother's name was Kazuko.

Soen Nakagawa's family moved shortly after to Iwakuni, and then finally to Hiroshima.

In 1917, at age 12, Soen Nakagawa's father died, leaving his mother Kazuko a young widow.

Soen Nakagawa's mother was forced to work to make ends meet and educate her young children herself.

In 1923, Soen Nakagawa entered high school and became a boarder at the First Academy in Tokyo.

On one occasion Koun recalled young Soen Nakagawa talking once about how he was sitting zazen atop a platform on the balancing bars in the playground resulting in a "natural self-realization".

Soen Nakagawa would write later, as a monk, that his high school years were spent in search of a meaningful occupation.

At the school library Soen Nakagawa read a passage on impermanence and deluded approaches towards happiness by Schopenhauer, which provided young Soen Nakagawa with a sense of clarity.

Soen Nakagawa next read Orategama by Hakuin, and found again great clarity in the words.

Soen Nakagawa gave a copy to Yamada Koun, who showed great interest in Zen afterward.

Soen Nakagawa majored in Japanese Literature, and it was here that he continued writing his poetry.

Soen Nakagawa even started a small group at the university for people to sit zazen together, a tradition that lives on at the university to this day.

Soen Nakagawa wanted to be ordained on his birthday at Kogaku-ji, once the monastery of his favorite Zen master Bassui.

Soen Nakagawa's mother felt he was throwing away his education, but knew he was a grown man who had to make his own decisions.

Just like Bassui, Soen Nakagawa began travelling to Dai Bosatsu Mountain in Kai province doing solitary retreats as a hermit and then returning to the monastery to resume his duties as a monk.

Soen Nakagawa later sent his work to Iada and had it published in Iida's haiku journal, Unmo.

In 1932 Soen Nakagawa first conceived the idea of an International Dai Bosatsu Zendo while meditating on Dai Bosatsu Mountain, traveling to Sakhalin Island in Siberia in an empty search for gold to fund the project.

In 1933 Soen Nakagawa completed his haiku anthology Shigan.

In 1935 Soen Nakagawa accompanied Katsube Roshi to lead a weekend retreat for Tokyo Imperial University students, and realized he forgot the kyosaku.

In search of a replacement stick Soen Nakagawa went to a nearby Zen center, Hakusan Dojo, where he heard Myoshin-ji Zen master Gempo Yamamoto speaking.

Soen Nakagawa became transfixed by the talk and intrigued by the man.

In 1937 Soen Nakagawa makes a trip with Gempo Yamamoto to Xinjing in Japanese-occupied Northeast China, to start a branch of Myoshin-ji Zen with the aim of moralizing the slave labor force used in Nissan-owned mining enterprises.

Soen Nakagawa had recently begun corresponding with Nyogen Senzaki in 1935, whose unconventional style of Zen teaching Soen Nakagawa greatly appreciated.

Yamada and Soen Nakagawa were walking one night together while Yamada was going on about some thing or another, and Soen Nakagawa stopped to say something that sparked Yamada's interest:.

In 1939, Soen Nakagawa returned to Dai Bosatsu Mountain for another solitary retreat.

In 1949, Soen Nakagawa made his first trip to the United States where he met Nyogen Senzaki in San Francisco.

Soen Nakagawa found Senzaki's approach to Zen refreshing, and was happy to find a new freedom in expressing himself to followers that would be unheard of in Japan.

Soen Nakagawa was hesitant and anxious about the proposition of becoming abbot.

Soen Nakagawa fled the monastery briefly after assuming the position, leaving Gempo with no other choice but to resume the position temporarily.

In 1951, Soen Nakagawa returned and resumed his position as abbot at Ryutaku-ji.

Soen Nakagawa was a non-traditional abbot, deciding to not distinguish himself from his students.

Soen Nakagawa wore the robe of a monk, he bathed and ate in their quarters.

Soen Nakagawa went to Hosshin-ji and studied under Harada Daiun Sogaku, lineage holder of both the Soto and Rinzai school.

In 1954, Soen Nakagawa met a young monk named Tai Shimano at a funeral for Zen priest Daikyu Mineo.

In 1955, Soen Nakagawa made his second trip to the United States and Nyogen Senzaki came to Ryutaku-ji to visit with Soen Nakagawa for 6 weeks.

Soen Nakagawa was named as the executor of Senzaki's estate and returned to the US to settle Senzakis' affairs.

In 1959 and 1960, Soen Nakagawa traveled to the US twice, leading a sesshin in Honolulu, HI during the latter.

Soen Nakagawa would visit Ryutaku-ji almost daily to go on excursions into the mountains to talk.

Soen Nakagawa frequented Dai Bosatsu Mountain many times following this for solitary retreat.

In 1963, Soen Nakagawa traveled to the United States, India, Israel, Egypt, England, Austria and Denmark with Charles Gooding, a former student of Nyogen Senzaki, teaching Zen with various sanghas.

In 1967, Soen Nakagawa sustained a serious injury surveying the grounds of Ryutaku-ji from the view of a treetop.

Soen Nakagawa slipped on a branch and was left unconscious for three days where he had fallen before being found.

Soen Nakagawa was discovered in a bed of bamboo reeds unexpectedly by one of his monks.

Soen Nakagawa was hospitalized for a long time while being treated for his head injury.

In 1968, Soen Nakagawa made his 7th trip to the US to open New York Zendo Shobo-Ji on September 15.

In 1971, Soen Nakagawa made his 9th visit to the US, helping The Zen Studies Society purchase land in the Catskill Mountains for International Dai Bosatsu Zendo.

In 1972, Soen Nakagawa made his 10th visit to the United States where he gave Dharma transmission to Eido Tai Shimano.

In 1974 and 1975, Soen Nakagawa made two more visits to the US, staying first at the still unopened International Dai Bosatsu Zendo, and then going into solitary retreat at New York Zendo Shobo-ji.

In 1981, Soen Nakagawa published Koun-sho, and in 1982, Soen Nakagawa made his last visit to the US.

In 1984, on March 11, while approaching his 77th birthday, Soen Nakagawa died while taking a bath at Ryutaku-ji.

Soen Nakagawa was viewed as an unorthodox, eccentric and controversial teacher within conventional Rinzai circles of his day.