The Institute For Zen Studies

Japanese Site

  • Study groups
  • Publications, etc.
  • Scholarly resources
  • Software

Present study groups:Japanese history and Japanese goroku (recorded sayings)

The Institute has been particularly active in researching the history of the Japanese Zen school and in preparing annotated editions, with commentaries, of the goroku (recorded sayings) of Japanese Zen monks. Already published are the Japanese kana Dharma talks of Hakuin Ekaku, the reviver of Japanese Rinzai Zen, in an edition based on the handwritten texts of the master himself. The Institute will continue its research of Japanese Zen history, based primarily on the study of the goroku texts provided by important Zen temples throughout the nation.

The Enpō Dentōroku Study Group

Description This group is preparing an annotated edition, with Japanese readings, of the Enpō Dentōroku延宝伝灯録, a biographical work compiled by Mangen Shiban 卍元師蛮 (1626-1710), with entries for nearly a thousand Japanese Zen monks, nuns, and lay practitioners.

Former study groups:Japanese history and Japanese goroku (recorded sayings)

Recently, the study group was being held at the Institute, but the list has already ended.

Genkō Shakusho Study Group

Description This group studied the Genkō shakusho 元亨釈書, Japan’s earliest historical study of Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, compiled by the Zen monk Kokan Shiren 虎関師錬 (1278-1346). In 2011 the group published an annotated edition of the text, with Japanese readings.

The Min'an Yōsai Study Group

Description This group is surveying and collecting the extant writings of Zen master Min’an Yōsai, the monk who transmitted the Rinzai Zen teachings from China to Japan, for an anthology of his works to be issued in 2014 in commemoration of the 800th anniversary of his death.

The Jakushitsu Genkō Study Group

Description This group is preparing an annotated edition, with Japanese readings, of the Sino-Japanese writings of Zen Master Jakushitsu Genkō, founder of the temple Eigen-ji in Shiga Prefecture, in commemoration of the 650th anniversary of the master’s death in 2016.

The Hakuin Study Group

Description This group is studying the writings of Hakuin Ekaku 白隠慧鶴 (1685-1768), the famed reviver of the Japanese Rinzai School.

Japanese Zen History Study Group

Description This group, under the guidance of Prof. Nagashima Fukutarō and Prof. Katō Shōshun, studied the history of Zen in Japan.