zen road gazette
past and future are one
![[Twenty Zen monks and nuns, both Westerners and Japanese, most wearing
gold-colored kesas (robes), white socks and sandals, leaving the dojo on the temple grounds]](/img/gendro-40-yrs-soto-monks.jpg "after the ceremony at La Gendronnière, June 9, 2007.")
A commemorative weekend marking the 40-year anniversary of the “implantation of Soto Zen in Europe” took place last June at La Gendronnière Zen Temple in France’s Loire Valley. The three-day event combined ceremonies (for Master Taisen Deshimaru, for “people of merit” and for the anniversary in general) with a symposium that featured speeches and a round-table discussion on the topic of “The Universality of Buddhism.” The principal participants in this event included Deshimaru disciples from within and without the Association Zen Internationale (AZI), and a large number of Japanese Zen dignitaries.
![[The audience seated in chairs, most listening to a simultaneous translation through headphones,
with a Japanese nun speaking up at the front]](/img/gendro-40-yrs-soto-lecture.jpg "La Gendronnière's main dojo, transformed into a lecture hall for the symposium.")
But perhaps the most memorable contribution came from someone who wasn’t even there: Michel Bovay, a close disciple of Deshimaru, former president of the AZI and head of the Zurich Dojo, was scheduled to make the opening remarks on the first day; but he could not attend because of a serious illness, and instead dictated his speech from his hospital bed. It was read by AZI president Raphaël Triet in the Gendronnière’s large dojo — converted into a lecture hall for the occasion — and followed by a new film about Deshimaru and his mission that moved most of the audience to tears.
Introduction to the Commemoration of
40 Years of Soto Zen in Europe
by Missen Michel Bovay
I regret that, due to illness, I am not able to be with you for this great event and speak to you directly.
The reason for this event is the commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of the implantation of Soto Zen in Europe. That moment corresponds, almost to the day, to the arrival of Master Taisen Deshimaru in Europe, forty years ago.
Prior to this commemoration, it was often said that we mustn’t talk about Master Deshimaru too much, but rather look forward instead of returning to the past; but past and future are one.
In addition to this commemoration, a symposium will begin this afternoon, whose theme is “The Universality of Buddhism”. During one of the planning meetings for the symposium, we asked Reverend Taiken Yokoyama, “What is the universality of Buddhism?” He replied, “Zazen, zazen-mind, the mind of Buddha’s awakening.” Well, that was exactly the mind with which Master Deshimaru came to Europe and deeply touched the minds and hearts of Westerners.
During the fifteen years of his mission in Europe, he never stopped talking about, evoking, transmitting and exposing this true and authentic zazen-mind, which in itself is Buddha’s mind of awakening.
And it was with the unwavering conviction that this mind could deeply help human beings, regardless of race, religion or ideology, to find true freedom of mind and direct and guide their lives from this dimension, that Master Deshimaru realized his great mission to implant the Way of Zen in Europe. He didn’t just talk about Zen, he was Zen, in its purest sense, in his every gesture and in his mind. All of his actions were based on this absolute faith, visible to all.
![[Master Taisen Deshimaru, standing, in simple monk's robes, date unknown]](/img/taisen-deshimaru.jpg "Master Taisen Deshimaru")
In a word, he was a true seeker of the Way, who sought to touch people and transmit to them the true, authentic and living universal mind of what he sometimes called “true God,” of which zazen-mind is the purest expression. He always said, “We must go beyond ‘-isms’ like Christianity, Buddhism and even Communism and capitalism…” We must go beyond all categorization, and realize the universal dimension of the mind. And we must do this through zazen, sitting, mushotoku, with no goal, without seeking profit or anything else, open to the universal dimension, open to the mind that goes beyond personal thinking, hishiryo-mind, open to what is true.
He often recalled the zazen he did with Master Kodo Sawaki in a stable. That zazen, simple and true, had made a deep impression on him. And it was in that spirit that he came to Europe, as a simple monk, with no means, no money, no help from anyone. Just the notebooks, the zafu and the kesa of his master, Kodo Sawaki. Those who saw and heard him were immediately struck and touched by his strength, his conviction and his absolute faith, which emanated from his zazen practice. It is this mind, and nothing else, that the practitioners followed, that made his mission a success, and that led to what we see here today, and that will continue well beyond into the future. I am convinced of that.
While Master Deshimaru always used Soto Zen teaching as his basis and respected and admired the spirit of Master Dogen, he always aspired to the mind’s highest dimension, which in the end goes beyond all “-isms” and embraces all contradictions.
![[Missen Michel Bovay]](/img/michel-bovay.jpg "Missen Michel Bovay")
Dictated at Zurich Hospital, June 6, 2007, by Missen Michel Bovay, between life and death.
Readers interested in the life and mission of Taisen Deshimaru can read more about them on the Teachings page (Taisen Deshimaru) and in the article Forty years ago… an Invitation in the Gazette.