Shohaku Okumura, founder and abbot of Sanshin Zen Community, 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.
Today he is recognized for his unique perspective on the life and teachings of Dogen Zenji derived from his experience as both practitioner and translator, and as a teacher in both Japanese and Western practice communities. He gives frequent lectures on the Shobogenzo and other foundational texts. His translations and commentaries include Dogen’s Extensive Record: A Translation of the Eihei Koroku, Realizing Genjokoan, Living by Vow: A Practical Introduction to Eight Essential Zen Chants and Texts, and The Mountains and Waters Sutra: A Practitioner’s Guide to Dogen’s “Sansuikyo”. His lectures have appeared in Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly, Dharma Eye, and Buddhism Now.
For more information, please visit the links below:
Sanshin-ji (Sanshin Zen Community)
The Dōgen Institute
https://dogeninstitute.wordpress.com/
We discussed Kosho Uchiyama Roshi and early Zen practice at Antaiji, jiko and how understanding the emptiness of the self fosters compassion, the poetry of Dōgen Zenji and Taigu Ryōkan, practicing Zen Buddhism through lectures and translation, Kannon and the sound that perceives the world, and the importance of finding a teacher and sangha.