Gudō Wafu Nishijima
| Gudo Wafu Nishijima | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Religion | Zen Buddhism |
| School | Sōtō |
| Personal | |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Born | November 29, 1919 Yokohama, Japan |
| Died | January 28, 2014 (aged 94) |
| Senior posting | |
| Title | Roshi |
| Predecessor | Rempo Niwa Roshi |
| Successor | Brad Warner, Jundo Cohen |
| Religious career | |
| Website | Dogen Sangha Blog |
Gudo Wafu Nishijima (西嶋愚道和夫 Nishijima Gudō Wafu, 29 November 1919 – 28 January 2014) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist priest and teacher.
As a young man in the early 1940s, Nishijima became a student of the noted Zen teacher Kōdō Sawaki. Shortly after the end of the Second World War, Nishijima received a law degree from Tokyo University and began a career in finance. It was not until 1973, when he was in his mid-fifties, that Nishijima was ordained as a Buddhist priest. His preceptor for this occasion was Rempo Niwa, a former head of the Soto Zen sect. Four years later, Niwa gave him shiho, formally accepting him as one of his successors. Nishijima continued his professional career until 1979.
During the 1960s, Nishijima began giving regular public lectures on Buddhism and Zen meditation. From the 1980s, he lectured in English and had a number of foreign students, including Mike Luetchford, his first Western Dharma Heir and founder of Dogen Sangha UK,Jeffrey Bailey, co-author with Nishijima of 'To Meet the Real Dragon,' American author Brad Warner and teacher Jundo Cohen. In 2007, Nishijima and a group of his students organized as the Dogen Sangha International. In April 2012, Warner dissolved the organization.
Nishijima was the author of several books in Japanese and English. He was also a notable translator of Buddhist texts: working with student and Dharma heir Mike Chodo Cross, Nishijima compiled one of three complete English versions of Dōgen's ninety-five-fascicle Kana Shobogenzo; he also translated Dogen's Shinji Shōbōgenzō. He also published an English translation of Nagarjuna's Fundamental Verses of the Middle Way (Mūlamadhyamakakārikā).
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