About Sanshin Zen Community
Sanshin Zen Community exists to enable the practice of shikantaza in the style of Uchiyama Roshi, deep study of Dogen Zenji’s teachings, and commitment to beneficial action. "Shikantaza in the style of Uchiyama Roshi" is characterized by three elements:
1) The study of the meaning of zazen in the context of Buddha's teachings.
2) Letting go of extra activities or formalities in an effort to focus on zazen.
3) Finding the significance of zazen and study in modern daily life.
Sanshin is an international sangha founded in 1996 by Shohaku Okumura, a Soto Zen priest and respected translator of the thirteenth-century Japanese Zen master, Eihei Dogen Zenji. We're based at Shobozan Sanshinji 正法山 三心寺 in Bloomington, IN, where we offer opportunities for daily practice, weekly Dharma talks, sesshin and retreats, and a three-month ango (practice period). Activities are open to anyone with a sincere interest in the practice of Soto Zen. We're largely a lay sangha, with most regular activities happening on weekday and Sunday mornings as well as occasional evenings in order to accommodate lives of work and family.
1) The study of the meaning of zazen in the context of Buddha's teachings.
2) Letting go of extra activities or formalities in an effort to focus on zazen.
3) Finding the significance of zazen and study in modern daily life.
Sanshin is an international sangha founded in 1996 by Shohaku Okumura, a Soto Zen priest and respected translator of the thirteenth-century Japanese Zen master, Eihei Dogen Zenji. We're based at Shobozan Sanshinji 正法山 三心寺 in Bloomington, IN, where we offer opportunities for daily practice, weekly Dharma talks, sesshin and retreats, and a three-month ango (practice period). Activities are open to anyone with a sincere interest in the practice of Soto Zen. We're largely a lay sangha, with most regular activities happening on weekday and Sunday mornings as well as occasional evenings in order to accommodate lives of work and family.
Our German-speaking sangha
Sanshin's German-speaking sangha is organized by two people ordained in our lineage and practicing in Germany and Austria. They make our style of practice available by offering zazen, liturgy, talks and community outreach.
About Frühlingsmond ZendoFounded by Kyoku Lutz in Hannover, Germany
Frühlingsmond (Spring Moon) Zendo offers at present 3 sitting times per week: Monday evening from 6.30 p.m. two 50-minute rounds of sitting followed by a small ceremony, followed by a round of talks on Dharma issues and themes. Friday morning from 6.50 a.m. two rounds of sitting followed by a morning ceremony. Sunday at noon a sitting round of 50 minutes from 12.00 noon. As long as the weather holds, this sitting takes place on a clearing in close city forest Hanover (Eilenriede). The emphasis of our activities lies on the internalization of a persistent sitting practice, which forms the basis of all further activities of daily life. Sitting practice becomes, together with additional times of intensive sitting (Zazenkai, Sesshin), a firm component in the activities of daily life such as tooth brushing, showers, meal etc.. We do not need to discuss it with others or with ourselves: we simply sit down regularly. We deepen our knowledge and experience by studying literature and writings and offer a sewing group (O-kesa, Rakusu). As a matter of course we learn to roll up our sleeves together and to be active where we need to be, without being directed by likes and dislikes. Anyone interested is warmly welcome to the Frühlingsmond Zendo, which is quiet and yet within walking distance of the city centre of Hanover and the main railway station. There is a guest room for overnight guests! About KyokuDr. Kyoku Barbara Lutz has been a disciple of Sanshin's vice abbot Hoko Karnegis since 2018, after her previous teacher, Kaikyo Roby, died of a serious illness. Her first ordination took place in 2010 by Zen teacher L. Tenryu Tenbreul, Berlin / Schönböken. She spent two angos in Japan (Aichi Senmon Nisodo, Nagoya, and Toshoji, Okayama) and one ango (Shuso-Ango / Hossenshiki ceremony) in 2019 at Ryumonji in Iowa, USA under the direction of Shoken Winecoff Roshi. She also received part of her complete training from Dai-en Bennage Roshi at Mt. Equity Zendo in Pennsylvania, USA.
Kyoku translates Buddhist texts from English into German (e.g. Living by Vow/Leben durch Gelübde, Shohaku Okumura, Werner Kristkeitz Verlag, 2018). As an educationalist with a doctorate, a system and family therapist and physiotherapist with an additional qualification in Bobath Therapy and Vinyasa Yoga, Kyoku has worked in various fields, both employed in large clinics and practices and self-employed. She completed the two-year training course "Psychosocial Qualification to Accompany Severely Ill and Dying Persons with Special Consideration of HIV/AIDS" (Prof. Dr. Carla Rosendahl) at the Protestant University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hanover. She is familiar with accompanying sick children and adults with limited life expectancy and their relatives, the areas of early support, HIV/AIDS and work with young prisoners as well as advising multicultural partnerships of any sexual orientation. Kyoku is an honorary board member of the spektra - Talent and Disability Foundation, which is dedicated to the advancement of very gifted children and young adolescents living with physical and/or sensory disabilities. She is married and has two children of her own. |
About DaijihiFounded by Shinko Hagn in Vienna, Austria
The Daijihi Sangha meets twice a week in Vienna to practice and share. We also meet regularly for practice days with intensive zazen, collaborative work and a practice dialogues. We sit sesshin in partnership with our European Sanshin network. The times are chosen in a way that they can be integrated into daily work and family life. The emphasis of our practice is on shikantaza, just sitting, but also studying the scriptures, sharing them and working together. In addition, we focus on our experience of sharing the practice deeply and broadly for the benefit of others. About SHinkoShinko A. Hagn was ordained as a Zen priest in March 2019 by Hoko Karnegis at Sanshinji.
His Zen practice began in 2009 at Johanneshof in the Black Forest in the teaching tradition of Zentatsu Baker Roshi, the successor of Shunryu Suzuki. In 2011, he was ordained as a layperson by Ryuten Rosenblum Roshi, a successor of Baker Roshi. In the same year, he also began to integrate his practice more fully into his everyday life. He began working as a prison chaplain for the Austrian Buddhist religious society. In 2015, he expanded his pastoral activity and has since then been taking care of formerly homeless people at the homeless shelter VinziRast in Vienna as a pastor and caregiver. In December 2017, he met Zen teacher Kaikyo Roby and changed lineage. Kaikyo was a successor of Shohaku Okumura Roshi. She worked and lived as a hospice and hospital chaplain near Miami, Florida, USA. She supported Shinko greatly in the development of his pastoral activity and was of great importance for his personal understanding of Buddhist care for the benefit of others. She died in November 2018. Her dharma sister Hoko Karnegis, vice abbot of Sanshin Zen Community, has taken on his further training. To maintain his livelihood, he works as an independent entrepreneur, together with his wife Sabine. He and Sabine practice together, have 2 children and live in Vienna. |
From the Dogen Institute
Excerpts from The Teachings of Homeless Kodo by Kodo Sawaki
Die Differenz berechnen Religion bedeutet Leben Die Welt aus einem Sarg sehen Nur, wenn wir praktizieren Ichsüchtige Motivation Ein Einbrecher bricht in ein leeres Haus ein |
Extract from Extrahiert aus Grenzenlose Gelübde, Endlose Praxis
From Chapter 10 The Bodhisattva Heart by Kaikyo Roby I firmly believe that the heart of the world is a bodhisattva heart. I believe that we find bodhisattvas in the three times and in the ten thousand directions as well as in every spiritual and religious tradition. I believe that bodhisattvas quietly and serenely, and maybe some other times more noisily, all according to their lives, culture, time, and causes and conditions, have worked, are working and will continue to work for the sake of all existences beyond space and time into infinity. I believe that the whole universe, the infinitesimal one as well as the macrocosmic one not yet discovered, pulsates with the heart of all bodhisattvas. That is how strong and boundless this faith is ingrained in my body/mind, one with the five skandhas allowing me to feel, think, and share this wonderful path in this life given by wondrous karma. READ MORE |
Shōhaku Okumura
Founder and Abbot Okumura Roshi was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1948. In 1970, he was ordained by the late Kosho Uchiyama Roshi, one of the foremost Zen masters of the twentieth-century. He received Dharma transmission from his teacher in 1975 and, shortly after, became one of the founding members of Pioneer Valley Zendo in Massachusetts. He returned to Japan in 1981 and began translating the works of Dogen Zenji, Uchiyama Roshi and other Soto masters from Japanese into English. In 1993, he moved back to the United States with his wife, Yuko, and their two children. He has previously served as teacher at the Kyoto Soto Zen Center in Japan and at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center in Minneapolis, and was Director of the Soto Zen International Center in San Francisco for thirteen years. |
Hōkō Karnegis
Vice Abbot Hōkō will take over spiritual direction of Sanshin in 2023 when Okumura Roshi moves into a Founding Teacher role. She was ordained as a novice by Okumura Roshi in 2005, and she completed her shuso hossen that same year at Kogetsu-an in Shiga, Japan. She received dharma transmission in September, 2012 and completed zuise at Eiheiji and Sojiji in November of that year. In January, 2016 Hōkō was named vice-abbot and successor at Sanshin. She previously served as communications director at Hokyoji Zen Practice Community in southern Minnesota from 2013 to 2016 and as interim practice director at Milwaukee Zen Center from 2011 to 2013. She has served as an adjunct instructor at Lakeland College in Sheboygan, WI, where she taught Eastern Religious Traditions in the classroom and online, and now teaches Zen through Ivy Tech Community College's lifelong learning program. She is recognized by Sotoshu as nito kyoushi (second-rank teacher) and as a practitioner of baika, a type of Japanese Buddhist hymn created by Sotoshu in 1952. She is serving her second four-year appointment from Sotoshu as kokusai fukyoushi, or international teacher. |
Ichiza, nigyou, sanshin
One sitting, two practices (vow and repentance), three minds (magnanimous mind, nurturing mind, joyful mind)
This is the expression Uchiyama Roshi used in his last lecture at Antaiji. He retired from Antaiji in 1975, many years ago. I was 26 or 27 years old, so it was more than 40 years ago. He said that what he has been keeping in mind while he was the teacher or abbot of Antaiji was that these three things are the most important, and he transmitted these three points to his disciples. After that, I had to come to this country and practice without my teacher, so this teaching has been my teacher. To me, sanshin is the conclusion of his teaching.
Of course, most important is zazen, but sanshin is how our zazen works in our daily lives, whether we are living in a monastery or in society, with our families, in our workplaces or in society at large. When we live together with other people we need these three minds. For Dogen the three minds is a practical teaching for monks within the monastery, but Uchiyama Roshi said that this teaching is not only for monks in the monastery but for anyone who lives with others. Whether it’s a Buddhist sangha or whatever kind of community, we need these three minds.
Likewise, the teachings in Dogen’s Eihei Shingi (Pure Standards for the Zen Community), according to Uchiyama Roshi, are an introduction to how our zazen practice can work outside the zendo in our daily lives. Originally these were instruction for monks in the monastery, but Uchiyama Roshi says they are not only for monks who live in the monastery but are important for anyone who lives in a community with other people. In the part of this text called Tenzo Kyokun (Instructions for the Cook), Dogen writes about the three minds. The tenzo, like all bodhisattvas, must keep these three minds as he or she prepares meals for the community.
I taught at Minnesota Zen Meditation Center from 1993 to 1997 (to 1996 as head teacher). In 1996 I established Sanshin Zen Community and I used this word sanshin as the name of the community. Often American Zen centers use the name of a place as a part of their names, for instance San Francisco Zen Center, Minnesota Zen Center, and there are many more. But at that time we didn’t have a place; only four people got together and made the decision to create a Zen community. There was no way to put a place in our name. We were looking for a suitable place to locate this community and we didn’t know where we would be. That’s why I used this word sanshin to indicate a community in which the members practice together with three minds.
To me, these three minds are really important and that’s why we studied the Eihei Shingi in the Wednesday dharma study group for the first few years after I established this temple in Bloomington in 2003. We read the entire Eihei Shingi. I knew that this is not a monastery; I didn’t intend to establish a monastery, so monastic regulations don’t make sense as a study topic. Still, in a monastery there is a structure—the abbot who has ultimate authority, the officers and teachers who can lead the practice and who can teach the training monks, experienced training monks, and young training monks. There is a hierarchy, and if it’s a good community, new monks are taught by the elders based on Dogen’s instructions. The teachings in the Eihei Shingi are actually transmitted within the monastic community, generation after generation. But because Sanshin is not a monastery, there were no such people in such a system. I was the only teacher and although there were several ordained people, basically this was a new community and people were not familiar with monastic structure or formal practice. Therefore I thought it was important that each person understand the spirit of monastic or community practice. That’s why I decided to study the Eihei Shingi at the very beginning of the history of this temple. I’m not sure whether it worked well or not, but at least that was my intention.
One sitting, two practices (vow and repentance), three minds (magnanimous mind, nurturing mind, joyful mind)
This is the expression Uchiyama Roshi used in his last lecture at Antaiji. He retired from Antaiji in 1975, many years ago. I was 26 or 27 years old, so it was more than 40 years ago. He said that what he has been keeping in mind while he was the teacher or abbot of Antaiji was that these three things are the most important, and he transmitted these three points to his disciples. After that, I had to come to this country and practice without my teacher, so this teaching has been my teacher. To me, sanshin is the conclusion of his teaching.
Of course, most important is zazen, but sanshin is how our zazen works in our daily lives, whether we are living in a monastery or in society, with our families, in our workplaces or in society at large. When we live together with other people we need these three minds. For Dogen the three minds is a practical teaching for monks within the monastery, but Uchiyama Roshi said that this teaching is not only for monks in the monastery but for anyone who lives with others. Whether it’s a Buddhist sangha or whatever kind of community, we need these three minds.
Likewise, the teachings in Dogen’s Eihei Shingi (Pure Standards for the Zen Community), according to Uchiyama Roshi, are an introduction to how our zazen practice can work outside the zendo in our daily lives. Originally these were instruction for monks in the monastery, but Uchiyama Roshi says they are not only for monks who live in the monastery but are important for anyone who lives in a community with other people. In the part of this text called Tenzo Kyokun (Instructions for the Cook), Dogen writes about the three minds. The tenzo, like all bodhisattvas, must keep these three minds as he or she prepares meals for the community.
I taught at Minnesota Zen Meditation Center from 1993 to 1997 (to 1996 as head teacher). In 1996 I established Sanshin Zen Community and I used this word sanshin as the name of the community. Often American Zen centers use the name of a place as a part of their names, for instance San Francisco Zen Center, Minnesota Zen Center, and there are many more. But at that time we didn’t have a place; only four people got together and made the decision to create a Zen community. There was no way to put a place in our name. We were looking for a suitable place to locate this community and we didn’t know where we would be. That’s why I used this word sanshin to indicate a community in which the members practice together with three minds.
To me, these three minds are really important and that’s why we studied the Eihei Shingi in the Wednesday dharma study group for the first few years after I established this temple in Bloomington in 2003. We read the entire Eihei Shingi. I knew that this is not a monastery; I didn’t intend to establish a monastery, so monastic regulations don’t make sense as a study topic. Still, in a monastery there is a structure—the abbot who has ultimate authority, the officers and teachers who can lead the practice and who can teach the training monks, experienced training monks, and young training monks. There is a hierarchy, and if it’s a good community, new monks are taught by the elders based on Dogen’s instructions. The teachings in the Eihei Shingi are actually transmitted within the monastic community, generation after generation. But because Sanshin is not a monastery, there were no such people in such a system. I was the only teacher and although there were several ordained people, basically this was a new community and people were not familiar with monastic structure or formal practice. Therefore I thought it was important that each person understand the spirit of monastic or community practice. That’s why I decided to study the Eihei Shingi at the very beginning of the history of this temple. I’m not sure whether it worked well or not, but at least that was my intention.