The teaching in Kanshoji

In Sôtô Zen, the teaching is transmitted from person to person.

At Kanshoji, it is given by Taiun Jean-Pierre Faure, who received the Dharma transmission from Dônin Minamisawa Zenji, abbot of Eiheiji zen temple.

 Taiun Jean-Pierre Faure’s teaching is based on that of Shakyamuni Bouddha rewritten at each period. It takes the different traditional forms of sôtô zen (see page “Sôtô zen buddhism“). All the teachings are translated into English.

Kusen

Oral teaching given during zazen

Kusen is the oral teaching given by the teacher during zazen.

It is not literature. Sentences are simple, short and straightforward. The kusen speaks to the deep part of the brain, to the heart of the disciple, who should not try to grasp it intellectually.

Inconceivable freedom

The past no longer exists, the future does not yet exist. What exists is the present moment, even if this present moment has no temporal duration; for this reason it is said to be elusive. Ultimate reality, even if we can’t grasp it, manifests itself at every moment. The best way to live is not to be locked in your head, but to be in direct contact with reality. Our choices must be based on what is and not on what we believe or imagine.

Shakyamuni Buddha is said to have said: ‘I asked myself if I was afraid of experiencing the happiness of inconceivable freedom’.

Inconceivable freedom is the mind that is free of all conceptions, free of all ideologies, free of all thoughts linked to the past, free of all thoughts linked to the future. Am I afraid to live without relying on the intellect? Am I afraid to enter reality without strategy, without calculation? Am I afraid to enter reality without weapons or armour? In a word, am I afraid to live my life in the present moment at every moment, with an open mind, free of everything? If Shakyamuni Buddha asked himself this question, perhaps we should ask ourselves the same question…

Shakyamuni Buddha answers: ‘I saw with my whole body-mind unified that I was not afraid. I verified that the best way to live was to live with an open heart, an open mind, in other words, with a heart and mind without limits, without defilement. Untainted by ignorance and stupidity; untainted by greed and aversion; with a pure mind, free of everything.’

It’s our turn to verify if we’re afraid to live like this. In zazen I see that my mind, leaning on nothing, clinging to nothing, gives me a taste of pure existence, makes me appreciate life as it is given to me at every moment.

The experience we have in zazen has the power to change our lives.

Taiun JP Faure, August 2024

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See all the kusens

Chosan

Meeting with the abbot

The teacher expounds the Dharma freely in the presence of his disciples, around a cup of tea.
The teaching relates to real-life situations.

A monastery is not great because of its many disciples.
It is great because chosan is practiced daily.
Master Dôgen

Chôsan on engaged Buddhism

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Mondo

Questions and Answers

The mondo is the opportunity, for the disciple, to ask the teacher a question on some aspects of the teaching and how to realise them in daily life.

Teisho

Lectures

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Personal experience: the monastic life (Yashô Valérie Guéneau – IZA seminar)

  As you can see, it is possible to live in a monastery for a number of years and remain quite normal! In our Sangha of the AZI certain members imagine that monks and nuns live in a monastery like “extra-terrestrial” beings – austere,…
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Zen monk, bodhisattva : the-vows of the candidate for Awakening (Taiun JP Faure – IZA seminar 2014)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Ask questions

You are welcome to feed this page with questions. So, please feel free to send them to webmaster@kanshoji.org

There is no mind without a body, no body without a mind. They are two aspects of a single reality. When body and mind are unified, we can remain present to ultimate reality, like Buddha Shakyamuni says so well: “The sound that is heard and the one who hears it are instantly forgotten”
That is what we get into the habit of doing in zazen. In other words, regardless of the situation, we are totally open to it, totally available. When we let go of everything that appears on our consciousness, without running away from or rejecting anything, nothing separates us from reality. Body and mind in unity, we become one with all existences in the universe. Being in unity with all existences, we can respond to them with wisdom and compassion.

Zazen is not at the service of anything. Zazen is simply the manifestation of ultimate reality, which has no end per se. Bringing this ultimate dimension within us has the power to change our life… We realise then that our points of view, our conceptions, our interpretations are relative, and that in no case should they be confused with ultimate reality.

A wrong vision of reality leads us to believe that all things in life are permanent, solid; that they have their own existence, independent from the rest. But the opposite is true.
In reality, all things in life are impermanent: they exist in interdependence with all other things, and have no separate existence.

Buddha teaches that we are the cause of our suffering, which comes from our ignorance, greed and aversion. However, he also asserts that we can put an end to our suffering, if we free ourselves from those three defilements, the three poisons.
Ignorance (waywardness):
Not seeing the true nature of life, the true nature of all things, that is to say, Buddha nature. Ignorance stops us from leading our life the right way, harmoniously, because we do not see reality as it is.
Greed (envy):
Neglecting our true nature and that of all things, we do not have access to the satisfying feeling of peace and plenitude. Consequently, we are in a state of frustration and lack, which leads us to look for happiness in material possessions, social status, fame, recognition, etc.
Aversion (anger, violence, hatred…):
Oblivious to the state of awakening, we accuse others; we feel aversion for everything that bothers us; we feel anger and hatred towards the outside world.
It is because we follow the three poisons – often unknowingly – that we entertain relationships with the world which are not right, which prevents our fulfillment and that of others

To practice the Buddha way is to show wisdom and compassion. This can be realised when we become free of the three poisons — ignorance, greed and aversion — and of all the resulting toxic flows. Then, we are no longer locked up in our selfish thoughts, and consequently, no longer separate from other beings. We see the others as they are, with their joys and their sorrows. We feel the desire to help them with their sufferings. Being compassionate is being in unity with the others. The river of giving then flows naturally and freely between all existences. When we are free of the three poisons, the virtue of giving arises naturally. It’s a characteristic of Buddha’s functioning.

Poems

What a strange thing!

To be alive

Beneath cherry blossoms.

Kobayashi Issa

Other poems

December 24, 2014/by Brice Texier

Ryokan

December 24, 2014/by Brice Texier

Haiku

April 16, 2016/by Brice Texier

Master Dôgen

November 13, 2017/by Brice Texier

Sagesses Bouddhistes TV broadcast

  • Which place and meaning should monastic life have? (French)
  • The Master-Disciple relation (French)
  • Understanding of Buddhism by Westerners, difficulties and traps (French)
  • The resonance in the Buddha Way (French)
  • The desire of appropriation, source of all the sufferings (French)