Shodo Harada

Shodo Harada (原田 正道, Harada Shōdō, born 26 August 1940),[1] or Harada Rōshi, is a Rinzai priest, author, calligrapher, and head abbot of Sōgen-ji — a three-hundred-year-old temple in Okayama, Japan. He has become known as a "teacher of teachers",[2] with masters from various lineages coming to sit sesshin with him in Japan or during his trips to the United States and Europe.

Shodo Harada
TitleRōshi
Personal
Born
Nara, Japan
ReligionZen Buddhism
NationalityJapanese
SchoolRinzai
EducationHanaozono Buddhist University Kyoto
Other namesHarada Roshi
Senior posting
Based inSogenji Okayama Japan
PredecessorMumon Yamada
Websitehttp://onedropzen.org/
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Biography

Shodo Harada was born into a Zen temple Aug. 26,1940 in Nara, Japan.[1][3] While still in high school, he encountered his teacher, Mumon Yamada, while running an errand for his father to Myōshin-ji.[1] He was impressed by how little he knew of Buddhism at this encounter.[1] After college he entered Shofukuji and began his training in 1962 under Rinzai Zen master and Japanese calligrapher Mumon Yamada,[2] from whom he received Dharma transmission in 1982.[1][3]

In 1982 he was sent by Mumon to Sogen-ji to help an elderly abbot tend to the building and training schedules, which is the main of the four pillars where he is still teaching now.

In September 1989, Harada came to the United States to provide instruction for students and in 1995 founded Tahoma Sogenji Zen Monastery on Whidbey Island in Island County, Washington, where the practice mirrors the practices found at Sogen-ji. This is the second pillar. The third pillar being Indozan Sogenji near the town of Adilabad in Telanaga state, central India. Long time student Bodhidharuma Osho is teaching there and offering training for young boys in residence and sesshins for locals. Harada Roshi leads a sesshin in Indozan once every August. The fourth pillar is Hokuozan Sogenji in Asendorf, Germany, being the central place for the many One Drop groups all over Europe. ShoE Roshi is in residence there. Harada Roshi is leading sesshins 3-4 times a year in Hokuozan.

Nearby the Tahoma One Drop Monastery, Harada has opened a hospice known as Enso House in 2001.[4][5]

Among those Western teachers that study with Harada Roshi are Hogen Bays, Jan Chozen Bays, Mitra Bishop, Alan Hozan Senauke, and Paul Haller.[2][6][7]

Roshi flew to the United States to perform the Jukai ceremony of Damien Echols.[8] Echols (a member of the West Memphis Three) was wrongly convicted[9] of the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. Whilst in prison, Echols began practicing Buddhism.[10]

Bibliography
  • Harada, Shodo (1993). Morning Dewdrops of the Mind: Teachings of a Contemporary Zen Master. Frog Books. ISBN 1-883319-10-2. OCLC 28183680.
  • Harada, Shodo; Jane Lago; Priscilla Daichi Storandt (2000). The Path to Bodhidharma: Teachings of Shodo Harada Roshi. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 0-8048-3216-1. OCLC 43615614.
  • Harada, Shodo; Tim Jundo Williams & Jane Shotaku Lago (eds.); Priscilla Daichi Storandt (translator) (2011). Moon by the Window: The Calligraphy and Zen Insights of Shodo Harada. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 978-0861716487.
  • Harada, Shodo; Jane Shotaku Lago; Priscilla Daichi Storandt (2018). Not One Single Thing: A Commentary on the Platform Sutra. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 978-1614291145. OCLC 975365202.

See also

References
  1. "Shodo Harada Roshi: A Short Biography". One Drop Zendo. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  2. Ford, James Ishmael (2006). Zen Master Who?: A Guide to the People and Stories of Zen. Wisdom Publications. pp. 116. ISBN 0-86171-509-8.
  3. "Shodo Harada Roshi". Sweeping Zen. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  4. Senauke, Hozan Alan (Winter 2006). "Shodo Harada Roshi: Nuclear Reactor of Zen". Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly. Retrieved 15 March 2008.
  5. "Enso House Overview". Enso House. Archived from the original on 23 June 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  6. Seager, Richard Hughes (1999). Buddhism In America. Columbia University Press. pp. 191–192. ISBN 0-231-10868-0. OCLC 40481142.
  7. King, Robert Harlen; Elizabeth M. King (2004). Autumn Years: Taking the Contemplative Path. Continuum International Publishing Group. pp. 44–45. ISBN 0-8264-1639-X.
  8. Echols, Damien. Life After Death (novel), chapter 1, page 17, published in 2012. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
  9. Lang, Brent. "‘West Memphis Three’ Killers Freed After 18 Years", www.thewrap.com, published August 19, 2011. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
  10. Echols, Damien. Life After Death (novel), chapter 1, pages 16-20, published in 2012. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
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