Category Archives: Lineage

Tozan Ryokai; Awakening to the Phenomenal World – Tony Shinro Doubleday

The thirty-eighth ancestor in the Soto lineage was Tozan Ryokai (807-69). He received transmission from Ungo Donjo (784-841) after first training with a number of other masters, including Isan Reiyu (771-853). Tozan met with Isan at a time when he was preoccupied by a question, which, according to the scholar Robert Sharf, was controversial within […]

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White Plum Teachers meeting at Yokoji

Every year the White Plum Asanga, which is Taizan Maezumi’s lineage, holds a teachers’ meeting which is open to all registered WPA teachers. This year’s 3 day meeting was hosted by Tenshin Roshi at Zen Mountain Center in California and was attended by Keizan Roshi, who is a board member representing the European sanghas, and […]

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Keizan receives Inka

At the Spring sesshin at Crosby Hall in April, Tenshin Roshi conferred Inka, certification of final completion of training, on Keizan Sensei.  This took place in a private ceremony at dawn on Wednesday 10th April when Keizan was given the Inka certificate and rakusu by Tenshin Roshi.  The occasion was celebrated by the sangha after the evening sitting on Thursday 11th April. […]

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Women ancestors – why honouring them by name in our services is important to me – Miranda Wayu Forward

When I first joined StoneWater Zen way back in 2001, I couldn’t help noticing that all the ancestors named in our services were male. Women did get a mention, however, but only as ‘all women lineage holders whose names have been lost or forgotten’. How sad, I felt, but unsurprising to me as a feminist […]

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Mahaprajnapati with Prince Siddhartha

Who are these women? Explaining the female names in our dedication chant – Miranda Wayu Forward and Sarah Kokai Thwaites on behalf of the StoneWater Zen Women Ancestors Group

In 2016 the names of 4 female ancestors were added to the dedication chanted in StoneWater services alongside 5 male ancestors, including the Buddha himself. Previously the dedication paid tribute to women ‘lost and forgotten’. With a resurgence of interest in female ancestors and the publication of several notable books on this subject (see references […]

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Where are the Women?

Here’s a thoughtful and thought provoking piece by Miranda Forward: “Something has been bothering me for a while: – Every Wednesday evening during the service at StoneWater Zen Liverpool, we chant the Identity of Relative and Absolute Sutra. After the sutra, the Ino chants a dedication – In reciting the Identity of Relative and Absolute, […]

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