Keido Fukushima
| Keido Fukushima | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Religion | Zen Buddhism |
| School | Rinzai |
| Education | Otani University |
| Senior posting | |
| Based in | Tofuku-ji |
Keidô Fukushima (福島 慶道, March 1, 1933 - March 1, 2011) was a Japanese Rinzai Zen master, head abbot of Tofuku-ji (one of the main branches of the Rinzai sect), centered in Kyoto, Japan. Because of openness to teaching Western students, he had considerable influence on the development of Rinzai Zen practice in the West.
Fukushima became an acolyte monk at the age of 13 under his original teacher Kidô Okada, abbot of Hôfuku-ji monastery in Okayama, Japan. Fukushima graduated from Otani University’s Department of Buddhist Studies in 1956, following completion of Otani’s doctoral course. In 1961 he began monastic training with Zenkei Shibayama at Nanzen-ji Monastery in Kyoto. Fukushima’s main teacher, Zenkei Shibayama, was instrumental in helping to transplant Rinzai Zen in the West. He was one of the first Rinzai Zen masters to hold retreats in the United States, and to publish books in English: A Flower Does Not Talk, Ox-herding Pictures, and Zen Comments on the Mumonkan / Gateless Barrier. Shibayama made annual visits to the United States in the late 1960s. In 1969 he was accompanied by Fukushima (at that time senior monk at Nanzen-ji and known as Genshô). In 1973 Fukushima received a fellowship to study English at the Claremont Colleges where he conducted seminars on Zen and led zazen practice.
Acknowledged as a Zen master in 1974, Fukushima was appointed vice-resident abbot of Hôfuku-ji where he began to train his own disciples. In 1980, he was appointed master of the Tôfuku-ji training monastery (senmon dôjô 専門道場) in Kyoto. Elected head abbot (kanchô 管長) of Tôfuku-ji in 1991, supervising 363 affiliated temples.
After being named Zen master and given the name Keidô, Fukushima strove to carry out his teacher Shibayama’s intention to introduce Rinzai Zen in the West. He accepted Western students as monks, both at Hôfuku-ji and Tôfuku-ji. Counter to tradition, he let women participate in monastic sesshin-retreats. He conducted annual speaking tours at American universities including Pomona College, Hendrix College, Bard College, Columbia University, Xavier University in Cincinnati, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Kansas, the University of Richmond, Middlebury College and the University of Vermont. From 1991 onwards, these tours included some sesshin-retreats. After decades of contact with American Zen, Fukushima gradually revised his views on it. In October 2007 he wrote:
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