カテゴリー: Profile

It was around 2010.

In my twenties, I was an extreme workaholic. This took a significant toll on my health. The worsening condition eventually led me to sell my company. It’s funny how life works; when one door closes, another opens.

The intensity with which I threw myself into business was recognized by the current head of the Engaku-ji branch of Rinzai Zen, Rōshi Nanrei Yokota (then the head of the training monastery), as equivalent to the strict discipline of Zen training. He essentially told me that I was naturally suited to be a monk.

Consequently, I was heavily scouted by many in the monastic community. However, Rōshi Daishin Adachi, the teacher of Rōshi Yokota, advised me: “The world of the monk is too restrictive for you. You should pursue the Buddhist path without becoming a priest.”

Normally, a young layperson talking directly with masters of the stature of Rōshi Yokota and Rōshi Adachi is a rare privilege. At the time, I was attending the Kojirin—a residential Zen retreat for the public at Engaku-ji. I had become quite arrogant because I had solved the “Mū” Kōan (a primary Zen riddle that takes most monks three years) in just two months. I went from the depths of despair after quitting my company to feeling I was on top of the world.

I was convinced that Rinzai Zen was the only true Buddhism.

I had attended a Sōtō Zen session once, and I held the foolish, youthful belief that: “Just sitting? Isn’t that just a gathering of people running away because they can’t solve Kōans?”

A lay practitioner (non-monk) is called a Koji (居士). While I was still so full of myself, I met Mr. M, a Sōtō Zen Koji.

He became one of my companions as we toured various Rinzai and Sōtō Zen centers. He was about ten years my senior and had also apparently been burnt out by his work, just as I was. There was one area where I absolutely could not beat him.

He always approached me from behind. I had briefly practiced Kyūdō (Japanese archery), and in the martial arts, being taken from the back signifies death. Even when practicing Ken Zen Ichinyo (Sword and Zen as One) and sharpening my senses as I walked to the sessions, I could never manage to get behind him.

It wasn’t just because his training was necessarily more advanced than mine. The reason was entirely different.

The simple answer is that the fault lay in my disdain for Sōtō Zen. At that time, I was incapable of respecting the faith of others. I couldn’t view things from the other person’s perspective, only my own. When I finally recognized this and changed my attitude, I suddenly found that I could freely get behind him.

In Sōtō Zen, this teaching is called Dōji (同事), meaning “same matter” or “Harmony”. It is the teaching of the Sōtō school to respect the other person’s standpoint and interact with them with empathy. After recognizing this, I began to treat Sōtō Zen, and indeed all traditional Buddhist schools, with the same respect I held for Rinzai Zen.

I believe Rinzai Zen is a religion of the individual, emphasizing solo effort. Evidence of this lies in its fifteen different Head Temples (Honzan). In contrast, Sōtō Zen has only two Head Temples: Eihei-ji and Sōji-ji. I understand Sōtō Zen to be a tradition that emphasizes the harmony of the collective whole over the individual. Most of the historically famous Zen abbots you read about are Rinzai monks. In Sōtō Zen, you tend to get frowned upon if you stand out too much.

However, similar to “individuality” is the concept of “Kafū” (家風, tradition/house style), which each tradition possesses. I feel each of the fifteen Rinzai schools has its own Kafū, and Eihei-ji and Sōji-ji have theirs. Yet, from the perspective of pure Zen, I often wonder if even this Kafū is superfluous. Transparent, colorless, just sitting. That is the most comfortable state. The temples that offer this kind of Zazen are often surprisingly small, unnamed branch temples.

A truly accomplished master cannot be distinguished from an ordinary person. That is the goal we should also strive for.

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■Instructor Shoji Tamura Profile

At age 17, he practiced zazen for the first time at Kenchoji Temple.
At age 18, he studied under Master Taizan Kawasaki Roshi at Rinshoin Temple for one year.
At age 23, he established a limited partnership (internet advertising business) with capital of 1 million yen.
At age 25, he reorganized into a corporation. As the sole president, he earned a monthly income of 5 million yen. He began commercial publishing (selling approximately 20,000 copies).
At age 26, he conducted a third-party allotment of new shares at a market capitalization of 800 million yen. He raised a total of 140 million yen, including 100 million yen from netprice.com (now BEENOS) and 40 million yen from Itochu Technology Ventures. He also signed a contract with Tohmatsu as his auditing firm.
At age 27, he had over 30 employees.
At age 28, he sold his business.
At age 29, he participated in weekend zazen sessions at Engakuji Kojirin. He mastered the koan of “Zhaozhou Muji” in just two months.
At the age of 30, he trained under Master Soushin Kanetake at Kourin-in Temple for eight years.
At the age of 36, he graduated from Musashino University Correspondence Course, Faculty of Human Sciences, Department of Human Sciences, with a major in Buddhist Studies.
At the age of 38, he was recognized as having attained “enlightenment of dependent origination” by Master Nanrei Yokota, and completed his training. He continued to “practice of after enlightenment” for seven years from that year, until he was 45, and remains a layperson to this day.

This is a calligraphy piece I received from Master Daishin Adachi, former head of the Engakuji branch of the Rinzai sect of Buddhism. The signature reads “Priest Daishin.” (character: I’m grateful, thanks to you.)

This calligraphy was given to me by Master Nanrei Yokota, the head of the Engakuji branch of the Rinzai sect of Buddhism, to commemorate the completion of my training. My name is written in the inscription.
(character: sincerity)

This is the letter I received from Master Yokota when he recognized my “enlightenment of dependent origination (the same enlightenment as Buddha)”. And then I said “I forgot about enlightenment and no longer needed the seal of enlightenment”.

I first met Master Yokota in the winter of my 29th year. Having sold my company, I decided to seek my next goal in life and went to the Zen training center of Engakuji.
Master Yokota isn’t strictly my teacher. However, after our weekend zazen sessions, he invited me to his room for tea and taught me. With Master Yokota’s guidance, I was able to master the koan of “Zhaozhou Muji” in just two months, a task that even a trainee monk would likely take three years to master.

My farewell from Master Yokota was during the Great East Japan Earthquake. I had caused an “incident” at Engakuji Temple related to the earthquake, and after that, Master Yokota completely ignored me. This period lasted eight years. I then began training under my next teacher, Priest Soushin Kanetake. Priest Kanetake had completed all of the koan exercises, but, following the example of his beloved Zen master Ikkyu, had not received the seal of enlightenment. Since I completed my training under Priest Kanetake, who didn’t have the seal of enlightenment, I also don’t have one. When my training was over, Master Yokota finally forgave me and wrote me a letter in reply. This photo was taken when I was 41 years old.

Enlightenment doesn’t end with attaining enlightenment. It is said that one is fully matured if one forgets it. However, even if one says that one has forgotten, one sometimes remembers it. At those times, one is ecstatic at how beautiful the world is.

True certification is when one doesn’t need the seal, and I was recognized by Master Yokota because I don’t have the seal. So I can’t be called the Roshi. I’m not the Shike. I have never conducted private interviews (Dokusan), so I can’t examine koans. However, there is no doubt that I have completed all the training, and I’m a legitimate, fully authorized Zen master.

My training session is backed by this background. And I offer you a path to “transforming the healing power of Zen into business productivity” backed by my experience running a company with a market capitalization of 800 million yen and over 30 employees, as well as the miraculous coincidence of the Pomodoro Technique and Rinzai Zen.

The Pomodoro Technique is a concentration method that alternates between 25 minutes of work and a 5-minute break. Rinzai Zen Zen training also involves 25 minutes of zazen followed by a 5-minute break. I believe I am the first person in Japan to combine this technique in the form of a zazen meeting. I don’t want to be imitated by businessmen. But it is a business model that Zen priests should emulate in the broader religious world. Master Daishin Adachi lamented that “monks are at the mercy of their parishioners.” Perhaps it’s time for the religious world to develop income sources that aren’t dependent on parishioners. Incidentally, my services are not provided by a religious organization. I hope to continue providing reliable solutions to everyone. A religious-free, self-employed, and lifelong active career.

In this way, my Pomodoro Zen, Business Zen Mindfulness, is a technique developed with solid authority and proven results.

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