Taisen Deshimaru

Taisen Deshimaru
Taisen Deshimaru in the Netherlands (1967)
School	Sōtō
Personal
Nationality	Japanese
Born	1914 Kyūshū, Japan
Died	April 30, 1982
Senior posting
Title	Rōshi
Predecessor	Yamada Reirin
Religious career
Teacher	Kodo Sawaki
Website	Association Zen Internationale

Taisen Deshimaru (弟子丸 泰仙, Deshimaru Taisen^?, 29 November 1914 - April 30, 1982) was a Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhist teacher, who founded the Association Zen Internationale.

Born in the Saga Prefecture of Kyūshū, Deshimaru was raised by his grandfather, a former Samurai before the Meiji Revolution, and by his mother, a devout follower of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism. Interested in the world, he abandoned his mother's practices and studied Christianity for a long while under a Protestant minister before ultimately deciding that it was not for him either. He returned to his own religion, Buddhism, and eventually came into contact with Rinzai teachings.

Eventually, he also grew distant from Rinzai Buddhism and was unsatisfied by his life as a businessman. In 1935, when he was studying economics in Tokyo, Deshimaru began to practice under Sōtō Zen Master Kodo Sawaki.

Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor, his master predicted that Japan would lose the war. When Deshimaru departed from his Master, Kodo said "Our homeland will be destroyed, our people annihilated . . . and this may be the last time we see one another. Nevertheless, love all mankind regardless of race or creed."

Deshimaru was exempted from the Imperial Japanese Army because of his near-sightedness. He went to the island of Banka, Indonesia, to direct a copper-mine. He found himself on the island of Bangka, where he taught the practice of zazen to the Chinese, Indonesian, and European inhabitants. He defended inhabitants against the violence of his own people, and was therefore thrown in jail, but released by "the highest military authorities in Japan".