Soen Nakagawa
| Sōen Nakagawa | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Religion | Zen Buddhism |
| School | Rinzai |
| Temple | Ryutaku-ji |
| Personal | |
| Nationality | Taiwanese-Japanese |
| Born | March 19, 1907 Keelung, Taiwan |
| Died | 1984 Mishima, Shizuoka, Japan |
| Senior posting | |
| Title | Rōshi |
Sōen Nakagawa (中川 宋淵 Nakagawa Sōen?, born Motoi Nakagawa; March 19, 1907 – 1984) was a Taiwanese-born Japanese rōshi 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. His father, Suketaro Nakagawa, was an army medical officer and his mother's name was Kazuko. His family moved shortly after to Iwakune, and then finally to Hiroshima. In 1917, at age 12, Nakagawa's father died, leaving his mother Kazuko a young widow. Soen's younger brother, Tamotsu, died soon after in his early childhood. His mother was forced to work to make ends meet and educate her young children herself. It was an unforgiving childhood for Soen. Soen's family was of samurai class, so in his youth he was trained as a samurai. But Soen was much more interested in the arts, where at a young age he displayed a gift for poetry.
In 1923 Soen (still Matoi) enters high school and becomes a boarder at the First Academy in Tokyo. Soen's childhood friend, Yamada Koun, enrolled on the same day as him. The two became roommates there and remained lifelong friends. It was expected that Soen would carry on the samurai tradition of his father, but Soen was pondering a more spiritual occupation. On one occasion Koun recalls young Soen talking once about how he was sitting zazen atop a platform on the balancing bars in the playground resulting in a "natural self-realization". Koun found this rather odd. Soen would write later, as a monk, that his highschool years were spent in search of a meaningful occupation. At the school library Soen read a passage on impermanence and deluded approaches towards happiness by Schopenhauer, which provided young Soen with a sense of clarity. Soen next read Orategama by Hakuin, and found again great clarity in the words. He gave a copy to Yamada Koun, who showed great interest in Zen afterward.
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