Houn Jiyu-Kennett
Houn Jiyu-Kennett | |
|---|---|
| Title | Roshi |
| Personal life | |
| Born | January 1, 1924 |
| Died | November 6, 1996 (aged 72) |
| Education | Durham University Trinity College of Music |
| School | Sōtō Zen Buddhism |
| Senior posting | |
| Teacher | Seck Kim Seng Suigan Yogo |
| Based in | Shasta Abbey |
| Predecessor | Keido Chisan Koho |
| Successor | Daizui MacPhillamy former Head of the Order Haryo Young Head of the Order Eko Little Former Abbot of Shasta Abbey Meian Elbert Current Abbess of Shasta Abbey Daishin Morgan Abbot of Throssel Hole Abbey Gyokuko Carlson Kyogen Carlson James Ishmael Ford |
Houn Jiyu-Kennett, (法雲慈友ケネット, January 1, 1924 – November 6, 1996), born Peggy Teresa Nancy Kennett, was a British roshi most famous for having been the first female to be sanctioned by the Soto School of Japan to teach in the West.
Biography
Early years
Houn Jiyu-Kennett was born as Peggy Teresa Nancy Kennett in St. Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, England on January 1, 1924. As a young woman she found herself questioning gender roles in society and grew to become disillusioned with Christianity. She studied medieval music at Durham University and then received a scholarship to Trinity College of Music in London, England.[1] Though attracted to Buddhism, she felt during this period that she was called to serve the Church of England as a priest. However, church policies did not allow women to be ordained, and this enhanced her previous disillusionment with Christianity.
Start of Buddhist studies
She first became interested in Theravada Buddhism during this period of questioning and searching, joining the London Buddhist Vihara. In 1954 she joined the London Buddhist Society, where she continued her Buddhist studies and lectured. While there, she met the scholar D.T. Suzuki, and developed a strong interest in Zen Buddhism. In 1960 when Keido Chisan Koho of Sojiji in Japan came to the society, she was asked to make the arrangements for his stay. Koho asked if she would consider becoming his student back in Japan. She accepted the offer, and two years passed before she arrived at Sojiji to study under him.[1]
In January 1962 Jiyu-Kennett traveled to Malaysia to accept an award she had been honored with for setting a Buddhist hymn, "Welcome Joyous Wesak Day" by Sumangalo, [2]to music.[1] Before leaving for Japan she was ordained by Seck Kim Seng[1] in the Linji school and given the Buddhist name Sumitra, meaning compassionate friend (慈有, Ciyou in Chinese).
Jiyu-Kennett arrived in Japan in 1962. She trained at Sojiji under Keido Chisan Koho Zenji—from whom she received Dharma transmission in 1963. Because Koho was often preoccupied with administrative affairs, Jiyu-Kennett spent much of her time studying under one of Koho Zenji's senior officers, Suigan Yogo roshi. She remained until after the death of her master Koho in 1967.[3]
Dharma transmission
According to James Ishmael Ford,
Jiyu Kennett Roshi received Dharma transmission twice, from both Suigan Yogo Roshi and Chisan Koho Roshi.[4]
Jiyu-Kennett's Zuise[5] ceremony was conducted in public in Japan. Previously women's ceremonies were held in private. Koho had decided that the practice of holding private ceremonies for women and public ceremonies for men was wrong. According to Jiyu-Kennett's account,
I have never done a ceremony with more terror inside me than that one with twelve men down each side, each one with curtains drawn as if to say 'I'm not here.' Those were the witnesses. Try that sometime! That can be pretty scary—in a foreign country, in a language you're not one hundred percent sure of, with a lot of people who are hating your guts. And the reason Koho Zenji did it—and I've got it on tape—was for the benefit of women in his country.[6]
Abbess and start of teaching career
Following her graduation ceremony, Jiyu-Kennett was installed as abbess of Unpukuji temple in Mie prefecture. By 1969 she received authorization to begin teaching Sōtō Zen in London, England. That year, she visited the United States on a lecture tour and decided to remain.[6] At this time Jiyu-Kennett was not in good health, as during her time in Japan she had experienced many illnesses.[7] In 1969 Jiyu-Kennett founded the Zen Mission Society in San Francisco, and in 1970 Shasta Abbey in Mount Shasta, California[8], the first Soto Zen school in the United States to be established by a woman. In 1972, Jiyu-Kennett's British chapter of the Zen Mission Society established Throssel Hole Priory in Northumberland, England.[3][9] In 1978 Jiyu-Kennett changed the name of the Zen Mission Society to the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives.
Resignation as abbess
In 1975 Jiyu-Kennett was stricken with illness yet again, and this time she became bedridden. In 1976 she resigned from her position as abbess of Shasta Abbey and went into retreat in Oakland, California. Still rather ill, of unknown causes, she had her student Daizui MacPhillamy with her often to tend to her care. Following a kensho experience he had, she conferred Dharma transmission to him at her bedside in 1976.[7]
Visions
Not long after she began having visions.[4] Stephen Batchelor describes these episodes,
The visions lasted for 12 months, until 26 January 1977, the first twelve occurring in Oakland, the rest at Shasta, where she returned on 25 October. Each vision unfolded as a dream-like episode, charged with Western and Buddhist religious symbolism, superimposing itself on whatever she saw around her. She compared the series of visions to an elaborated contemporary version of the classical Zen images of the ten 'ox-herding' pictures. By the time the final vision faded, she was cured. She interpreted the experience as that of a 'third kensho.'"[7]
Teaching style
Jiyu-Kennett had a commanding presence about her, both intellectually as well as physically. Of a rather husky build, she had a tremendous laughter and was known to be gifted at storytelling.[6] To some, her demeanor appeared rather persistent at times, as author James Ishmael Ford writes,
My memories of Jiyu Kennett Roshi as a teacher are mixed. She followed in the authoritarian style of her Japanese inheritance. Interpersonally, she was remarkably invasive. Indeed, in my twenties, she pushed me into a marriage with another student that would cause great unhappiness for both of us. On the other hand, she had genuine insight into the boundless realm and also pushed me toward my own deepest experience of the great matter."[4]
According to the book The Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America,
Her adaptation of Zen for Westerners has been likened to Japanese Soto Zen with a flavor of the Church of England, for she believed that Zen in North America should adopt Western monastic dress and liturgical forms. For example, she set the traditional Buddhist liturgy to music based on Gregorian chants."[10]
Jiyu-Kennett was an advocate for equality between the sexes, and was herself swayed by the idea that women would never be deemed as equal to men if they were not understood to possess souls. According to author Catherine Lowman,
She asserts that no woman will be certain she is equal 'until she knows with the certainty that I know, that her own Buddha-nature, or her own soul, exists.'"[11]
Dharma heirs
- Daizui MacPhillamy
- Gyokuko Carlson
In 1985 new rules had been implemented within the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives that required monastics to be celibate, and Gyokuko Carlson and Kyogen Carlson chose to part ways with the community rather than seek a divorce. As a consequence, their center in Portland, Oregon (today's Dharma Rain Zen Center) chose to break ties with Shasta Abbey, and ultimately invited the Carlsons to remain their leaders.[4]
Legacy
The Order of Buddhist Contemplatives, founded by Jiyu-Kennett, now has chapters in the United States, the Netherlands, Canada, the West Indies, the United Kingdom and Germany.
Bibliography
- Jiyu-Kennett (2005). Roar of the Tigress: The Oral Teachings of Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett, Western Woman and Zen Master. Shasta Abbey Press. ISBN 0-930066-24-3.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Jiyu-Kennett (1999). Zen is Eternal Life. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 0-930066-20-0.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Nearman, Herbert (1998). Buddhist Writings on Meditation and Daily Practice: The Serene Reflection Meditation Tradition, Including the Complete Scripture of Brahma's Net. Shasta Abbey Press. ISBN 0-930066-18-9.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Jiyu-Kennett (1996). Serene Reflection Meditation. Shasta abbey Press. ISBN 0-930066-16-2.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Jiyu-Kennett (1993). How to Grow a Lotus Blossom, Or How a Zen Buddhist Prepares for Death, 2nd edition. Shasta Abbey Press. ISBN 0-930066-10-3.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Keizan (1993). The Denkōroku, Or, The Record of the Transmission of the Light. Shasta Abbey Press. ISBN 0-930066-13-8.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Nearman, Hubert (1993). The Monastic Office. Shasta Abbey Press. ISBN 0-930066-14-6.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Jiyu-Kennett (1987). The Liturgy of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives for the Laity. Shasta Abbey Press. ISBN 0-930066-07-3.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Jiyu-Kennett (1980). Zen Meditation. Shasta Abbey Press.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Jiyu-Kennett (1979). The Book of Life. Shasta Abbey Press. ISBN 0-930066-04-9.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Jiyu-Kennett (1979). The Shasta Abbey Psalter. Shasta Abbey Press. OCLC 82217069.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Jiyu-Kennett (1979). The Shasta Abbey Book of Ceremonies. Shasta Abbey Press. OCLC 13951501.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Jiyu-Kennett (1978). The Wild, White Goose: The Diary of a Zen Trainee. Shasta Abbey Press. ISBN 0-930066-02-2.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Jiyu-Kennett (1972). Selling Water by the River: A Manual of Zen Training. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-394-46743-4.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Jiyu-Kennett (1972). Zen Mission Society: Scriptures & Ceremonies. J. Kennett. OCLC 15989285.
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See also
References
- ^ a b c d Kay, 120-121
- ^ Kennett, Liturgy, 247
- ^ a b Fowler, 164; 195
- ^ a b c d Ford, 141-143
- ^ Kennett, 77
- ^ a b c Boucher, 137-138 Cite error: The named reference "boucher" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ a b c Batchelor, 133-134
- ^ Carroll, 110-11
- ^ Snelling, 206
- ^ Skinner Keller, 641
- ^ Lowman, 138
Sources
- Batchelor, Stephen (1994). The Awakening of the West: The Encounter of Buddhism and Western Culture. Parallax Press. ISBN 0-938077-69-4.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Boucher, Sandy (1993). Turning the Wheel: American Women Creating the New Buddhism. Beacon Press. ISBN 0-8070-7305-9.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Carroll, Bret E. (2000). The Routledge Historical Atlas of Religion in America. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-92131-7.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Fowler, Merv (1999). Buddhism: Beliefs and Practices. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 1-898723-66-4.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Kennett, Jiyu (1999). Zen is Eternal Life. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 0-930066-20-0.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Kennett, Jiyu (1987). The Liturgy of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives for the Laity. Shasta Abbey Press. ISBN 0-930066-07-3.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Kay, David N. (2004). Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain: Transplantation, Development and Adaptation. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-29765-6.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Lowman, Catherine (1993). Women's Leadership in Marginal Religions: Explorations Outside the Mainstream. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-02025-1.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Skinner Keller, Rosemary (2006). The Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34685-1.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Snelling, John (1991). The Buddhist Handbook: A Complete Guide to Buddhist Schools, Teaching, Practice and History. Inner Traditions. ISBN 0-89281-319-9.
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