X-Nico

4 unusual facts about Zen master


Blue Cliff College

The name of the college is taken from an ancient Zen text, the Blue Cliff Records, containing dialogues between Zen masters and their students.

Zen master

In contemporary China, the term "Chán" (禪), being simply one of many terms for forms of meditation, is not limited to the Chán school alone.

It is only those senior and experienced practitioners who receive such transmission into the Chán school.

The more common term when addressing a Buddhist master is "Shīfu" (師父; Master), which is also used for any monk or nun as a matter of respect.


Buddhism and evolution

Albert Low, a Zen master and author of The Origin of Human Nature: A Zen Buddhist Looks at Evolution, (2008) opposes neo-Darwinism and the selfish gene as he claims they are materialistic.

Dae Gak

Dae Gak (born 1947), born Robert Genthner, is a Zen master and the guiding teacher of Furnace Mountain in Clay City, Kentucky, a Korean Buddhist temple and retreat center co-founded in 1986 with Seung Sahn.

Willigis Jäger

Willigis Jäger (born 7 March 1925 in Hösbach) is a German Benedictine monk, mystic, and Zen master, who trained and taught in the Sanbo Kyodan tradition (being given the Japanese name Koun-ken) until 2009, and then continued his own sangha independently.


see also

Dana Sawyer

Downeast Roshi, a feature article on Zen Master Walter Nowick, Tricycle, the Buddhist Review (New York, Spring 2008)

Kazuo Okamatsu

He was known in the 1980s for his works on the poet and Zen master Ikkyū.

Kyudo Nakagawa

Among others, he trained Lawrence Shainberg, author of Ambivalent Zen, which discusses Kyudo's teachings and provides an intimate portrait of this Zen master.

Lanxi Daolong

Daolong died in Kenchō-ji, and was given the Posthumous Name as Dajue Zen Master by Emperor Go-Uda (後宇多天皇).

Mel Karmazin

WFAN morning talent Don Imus often referred to Karmazin on the air, never by name, but by the nickname "The Zen Master".

Pháp Hiền

Pháp Hiền studied under Quán Duyên, a Zen master at chùa Quán Vân, or Phap-van Temple, then under the Indian monk Vinītaruci.

Southern Dragon Kung Fu

1900, a Chan (Zen) master named Daai Yuk taught Southern Dragon style to Lam Yiu Gwai, who in turn passed the art on to the many students of his schools in Guangzhou.