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Chapter 1 summarizes the modern scholarly opinion that throughout its history, the Zen tradition rejected religious ritual as a legitimate means of carrying out its unique Buddhist mission, and subjects this view to a contemporary historical critique. The author's thesis is that modern Japanese Zen scholars constructed the anti‐ritual theme in Zen in order to make Zen more relevant to the modern age in the eyes of both the ruling elite in Meiji/Taisho Japan and Western intellectuals who tended to be dismissive of religious ritual. Pushed in this direction by their own historical circumstances, modern Zen scholars portrayed the entire Zen tradition as anti‐ritual in basic intent and practice in spite of the historical record that belies this view. The author proceeds to describe the history of Zen ritual and presents a catalog description of ritual activities that are practiced in contemporary Sōtō Zen.

Menzan Zuihō (1683–1769) was one of the most illustrious writers and reformers of the Tokugawa period. However, despite his accomplishments, Menzan is not remembered in Sōtō Zen circles as an innovative figure, and the Tokugawa period was for many years dismissed as a backward embarrassment. In the Sōtō Zen community, Dōgen is taken as the source of all authority, and today, as if to emphasize that attitude, the school often refers to itself as “Dōgen Zen.” Menzan is perhaps the beginning of the modern understanding of Dōgen. His approach to learning and his emphasis on historical sources continue to this day to be characteristic of the Sōtō school, and his writings about doctrine and details of monastic practice are the foundation of the contemporary school.

Chapter 9 provides an example of ritual transformation in the movement of Zen from one culture to another. After describing dharma transmission in East Asia by highlighting the theme of the family explicit in it and then focusing on transmission in the Sōtō school of Japanese Zen, the author describes a newly created ritual for the confirmation of dharma transmission in the Sōtō sect of North America. This ritual—called the Dharma Heritage Ceremony—was created in the recognition of participants that an “accessible Western ceremony” to recognize and confirm dharma transmission was essential to the ongoing success of their Zen practice in North America. This essay asks, “What issues arise when Zen teachers attempt to transplant these various aspects of dharma transmission into twenty‐first century North America?”

Chapter 8 seeks to uncover the historical origins of kinhin, the ritual of walking meditation as it has been practiced in the Sōtō school of Japanese Zen. Practiced today between periods of zazen, the Sōtō style of kinhin entails an exceptionally slow pace of walking in order to coordinate each step with a full cycle of respiration. Although Sōtō monks typically attribute this practice to the founding figure, Dōgen and his teacher in China, Riggs finds the origins of the practice considerably later than this in the eighteenth century Sōtō leader Menzan Zuihō's writings, the Kinhinki, a brief text describing the practice of kinhin, and the Kinhinkimonge, a commentary connecting this practice to traditional Buddhist texts.

Chapter 6 engages in ethnographic study of rituals practiced by nuns in the contemporary Sōtō sect of Zen. Through surveys and interviews conducted among Sōtō nuns in the Nagoya area of Japan, Arai has articulated the ways in which two quite different rituals “shape, stretch, and define” the identity of participants. Both rituals—Anan Kōshiki and Jizō Nagashi—seek to evoke in participants an awareness of their own Buddha nature, and along with that, a strong sense of their own free agency and power. The central themes of these two rituals are gratitude and interrelatedness, and elements in these sacred ceremonies bring these qualities out in the experience of the women who participate in them. In addition, these themes are linked to Dōgen's own Zen teachings as a natural expression of his claims about the Buddha nature in all beings.

This chapter discusses how the spread of standardized Buddhist funerals in the Tokugawa gained momentum from the temple certification system (terauke seido). This was how the Japanese came near universally to acquire a hereditary Buddhist sectarian affiliation and, as the contemporary expression has it, to “die Buddhist.” The chapter also shows how the Soto school of Zen was able to spread in the provinces and entrench itself in village life by incorporating local customs into its death rites, thus creating a Zen funerary culture that was soon embraced by other sects as well. Outside academic circles, Westerners tend to think of Soto Zen in connection with its emphasis on seated meditation, but its most pervasive influence on Japanese culture lies in the development of what are now called traditional lay Buddhist funerals.

Chapter 5 addresses what many today would consider the central ritual of Zen—zazen—or seated meditation. Although zazen is commonly understood by way of instrumental logic as a means or method for attaining enlightenment, from the Sōtō Zen perspective initiated by Dōgen and featured in this essay, the order of cause and effect is reversed—zazen is “the practice‐realization of totally culminated awakening.” In developing this approach to meditation, Leighton traces its roots to Vajrayana teachings that were influential not simply in Japanese Shingon, but also in Nichiren, Tendai, Jōdo, and Zen. Upon that Buddhist foundation, the essay develops the “unity of practice and realization” by showing how this theme appears in Dōgen's instructions for meditation ritual (Eihei shingi), in his extended essays (Shōbōgenzō), and in direct teachings to his monks (Eihei kōroku). The essay claims that when meditation is taken as “the expression or function of buddhas,” rather than as a technique of spiritual acquisition, an emphasis on meditative awareness in everyday life is made possible.

Chan/Zen Buddhism is a tradition known for the transmission of lineages whereby a current master at once pays obeisance to and severely criticizes the patriarchs. East Asian training traditions generally emphasize that a disciple needs to be able to surpass his teacher, who must be magnanimous enough to encourage and acknowledge the value of the comeuppance. The literary works of Dōgen (1200–1253) epitomize this process. This chapter examines the various ways Dōgen’s image and sense of self-identity is formed by his twofold approach to his predecessors. First, it surveys the full extent of Chan masters cited by Dōgen and what this indicates about his view of sectarian transmission; for example, who he cites and why he praises or refutes their teachings. Next, it focuses on the ways that Chinese Caodong school masters Hongzhi (1091–1157) and Rujing (1163–1228) influenced Dōgen’s philosophy and literary style and helped shape his view of monastic institutional administration and practice.

This book examines the important role played by nuns in the foundation of Buddhism in Japan in the sixth century. Drawing on both historical evidence and ethnographic data, it shows that nuns were active participants in the Sōtō Zen sect and have continued to contribute to its advancement to the present day. Focusing primarily upon one of the leading Sōtō women's monasteries in Japan, Aichi Senmon Nisōdō, the book shows that many Japanese nuns embody classical Buddhist ideals by leading a strictly disciplined monastic life. In investigating the lives of Buddhist nuns in Japan, the book advances a critical interpretation of the meaning and significance of female monastic practice. It presents the nuns' perspective on their history, lifestyle, teachings, religious practices, and self-perception. It highlights key moments of Japanese history that shed light upon how Japanese female monastics practice Zen in the twentieth century and help explain why they are strong today. Finally, the book explores changes in Japanese religiosity that occurred during Japan's transition to modernization from a traditional society with a rich cultural heritage.

This chapter examines the motivations, commitments, thoughts, attitudes, and self-perceptions of nuns who belonged to the Sōtō Zen sect in Japan. Drawing on information gathered from Aichi Senmon Nisōdō, one of the foremost Sōtō women's monasteries in Japan, plus data from interviews and surveys, the chapter considers the significance of the nuns' contributions to Japanese Buddhism and to Japanese society generally. It also explores the changing life patterns of Zen female monastics in the twentieth-century as well as their values and perspectives about religious practices in accordance with Buddhist ideals.

This chapter examines the actions of nuns who belonged to the Sōtō Zen sect in Japan to elucidate their interpretation of Buddhist teachings, especially those of Zen Master Dōgen. More specifically, it considers the many different ways in which Sōtō nuns sought for equal treatment, such as combining monastic discipline and training with secular education. To this end, the chapter traces the three generations of Sōtō monastics who have been responsible for freeing nuns from systematically undue restrictions: the four pioneering nuns who founded Nagoya's official training monastery for nuns in 1904, Kojima Kendō, and Aoyama Shundō. These women manifest strength of character, creative ingenuity, and a profound commitment to monastic life based on the ideals of Buddhism.

This chapter examines the monastic practices of nuns who belonged to the Sōtō Zen sect in Japan. It first provides an overview of the nuns' vision of monastic life based on the ideals of Buddhism and their interpretation of the teachings of Zen Master Dōgen by focusing on Aichi Senmon Nisōdō, one of the leading Sōtō women's monasteries in Japan. It then considers the four divisions of the various tasks that must be performed to make Aichi Senmon Nisōdō function, namely: ino, chiden, tenzo, and anja. It also describes the nuns' ceremonial rituals and activities, such as chanting sutras in the morning after a round of zazen, along with the education offered at the monastery. The chapter concludes by reflecting on the role of beauty in the lives of Zen nuns.

This book has examined the important role played by nuns in the foundation of Buddhism in Japan in the sixth century. Drawing on participant-observation, interviews, and surveys, it has shown that nuns belonging to the Sōtō Zen sect acted as preservers and creators of Buddhist tradition and as bearers and transmitters of traditional Japanese culture. Focusing on Aichi Senmon Nisōdō, one of the leading Sōtō women's monasteries in Japan, the book has documented these female monastics' history of triumph over the male-dominated sect institution's regulations and structures, along with the relationship between their monastic life and the ideals of the community. Its findings also refute many of the misconceptions about nuns, for example, that they are weak, oppressed, do not play a significant role in Zen Buddhism or Japanese society, and have not made any real gains in the twentieth century. Finally, the book has highlighted the significance of Zen nuns in at least three realms: traditional monasticism, traditional Japanese culture, and advancing women's opportunities.

This section provides an overview of the Zen tradition and its philosophical significance. Zen Buddhism was one of the three new religious traditions that emerged during a time of political upheaval in Kamakura Japan, the other two being Nichiren Buddhism and the various forms of Pure Land Buddhism. Zen began with two strategies of development: an elitist approach that sought the patronage of the political centers of power and authority, and a separatist approach that founded monasteries for spiritual practice. There are two major medieval schools of Zen, Rinzai Zen and Sōtō Zen. This section also presents translations of a variety of texts by Japanese philosophers from the Zen tradition, including Dōgen, Musō Soseki, Ikkyū Sōjun, Takuan Sōhō, Suzuki Shōsan, and Shidō Bunan.

This book examines the ritualized activities of mature and devoted Japanese Buddhist women and their significance to a Sōtō Zen mode of living. Drawing on interviews with twelve Zen laywomen, the book explores a domestic aspect of Zen that is ripe with wisdom for responding to a host of everyday challenges, difficulties, and fears. It describes the Way of healing, a paradigm of healing rooted in Zen Buddhism and particularly the teachings of Dōgen, and shows that healing rituals are a catalyst for powerful healing experiences among Buddhist women. It considers how Zen Buddhist rituals allow people to cope with various emotional and psychological needs as they respond to the inevitable challenges of human existence such as love, loss, birth and death, and the longing to belong. The book also discusses the healing power of beauty as an integral component of domestic Zen, along with the concept of personal Buddha for dealing with loss and grief.

This chapter discusses the concept of domestic Zen and how it helps Japanese Buddhist women deal with a wide range of challenges, from difficulty in giving birth to problems with child-rearing, caring for the elders, a terminal diagnosis, and death by natural and unnatural causes such as war, suicide, and homicide. Domestic Zen is based on Dōgen’s teaching that “practice is enlightenment.” Ritualized behaviors in Sōtō Zen are practices. Practice is ritualized activity done in accord with wisdom and compassion. This chapter examines the rituals and practices of domestic Zen and how they contribute to the Way of healing paradigm. Drawing on the category of healing ritual, it considers the dynamics that are central to the women who engage in and create domestic Zen.