Anna Ruggeri Takeshita    Department   Kyoto University of Foreign Studies  Department of Italian Studies, Faculty of Foreign Studies    Position   Professor
Language	Japanese
Publication Date	2021/07
Type	Academic Paper
Title	The Practice of Body and Mind in Japanese Zen Buddhism: The Experience of Shaku Sōen
Contribution Type	Single author
Journal Type	Japan
Volume, Issue, Page	pp.15-25
Total page number	10頁
Author and coauthor	Anna RUGGERI TAKESHITA
Details	In Zen Buddhism practice itself has a central role in the religious attainment which is nothing other than the experience of reality. Zen practice takes advantage of some techniques such as zazen and kōan, but it also draws on aspects of everyday life. Nevertheless, the central focus of Zen is not the practice itself, but on the self-realization of “who” is practicing. Practice is bound up with a process of self-inquiry which aims to allow the practitioner to experience the self as a unity of body and mind (shinjin). This presentation examines how concepts of practice and realization featured in the life of the Japanese Rinzai Zen master Shaku Sōen who lived during the Meiji Period. The presentation also considers how Shaku Sōen’s understanding of the “essence of Buddhism” played a role in the very first Parliament of the World’s Religions (Chicago, 1893).