By chance, an elderly believer who was helping the temple saw him and went inside to worship him as if he were the Buddha himself. This old woman usually yelled at him like a servant on duty, but what

By chance, an elderly believer who was helping the temple saw him and went inside to worship him as if he were the Buddha himself. This old woman usually yelled at him like a servant on duty, but what made her change and worship him with such respect? This was the first time Sawaki realized that supreme respect comes from the posture of zazen, which is why he determined to practice zazen diligently in the rest of his life. In his old age, Sawaki often said that he was a man who spent his entire life in zazen. A life this way was born out of such an early event. After experiencing many different scenes, the idea of ??becoming a monk finally came true at Amakusa Soshinji Temple. He was named Hoshidao by the abbot of Soshinji Temple, Sawaki Hoshiho. After that, he spent two weeks as a monk at Entsuji Temple in Hyogo Prefecture. From there, he went to another temple and met Teacher Diqiu Lingyun. They cherish each other, and Zemu Xingdao decides to follow Teacher Diqiu. Diqiu Lingyun followed the great Zen master Nishi Yumuzan in the Meiji era (1868-1912). The longer they lived together, the more Sawaki Xingdao was attracted by the teacher's straightforward character. Sawaki Xingdou learned from Diqiu teacher Yongpingqinggui, Yongpingqinggui, and Zazen Zen mindfully. These became the basis for future practice of Zen meditation. Afterwards, Sawaki was drafted into the army and participated in the Russo-Japanese War (which broke out in 1904). He was seriously injured and nearly died, and won a gold medal. At the age of 27, in 1906, he returned to Japan. After the war, perhaps a little too late for his age, he entered the Shinshu Takada vocational school in his hometown of Ichikicho. In the second year, he transferred to Yamato Horyuji Temple to study knowledge only with the monk Saeki Dingyin, the head monk. At the age of 35, after studying all aspects of Buddhism, he began to meditate diligently from morning to night at Chengfukuji Temple, an uninhabited temple in Nara. Just meditating here has penetrated deeply into his bone marrow and flesh. In 1916, the 37-year-old teacher Qiu Zongtan invited him to be a lecturer in the monk hall of Daciji Temple in Kumamoto City. At the age of 44, after the death of Teacher Qiu Zongtan, Sawaki Xingdao lived alone in Manri Mountain. Based on this, he began to travel throughout Japan to introduce zazen and give various speeches. At the age of 55, Hiromichi Sawaki was appointed as a professor at Komazawa University. In the same year, he became the back hall (leading teacher) of Omotoyama Shojiji Temple (one of the two main temples of the Soto Sect). From then on began the most important period of Sawaki Xingdao's promotion. At that period, "Zen" in the Rinzai sect was just koan Zen, and Sawaki Yoshidao completely focused it on the practice of meditation only approved by Dogen Zen Master. Looking back at the history of Japanese Buddhism, it cannot be ignored that during the era of Sawaki Kodo, he was the first to re-purify the practice of meditation alone, bringing it on par with the popular koan Zen. Because he never lived in his own temple or wrote any books, people called him, "Xingdao without a home." In 1963, his legs failed and he had to give up walking. He retired to Antaiji Temple until his death in 1965 at the age of 85. If you want to know more about Sawaki's life, there are several biographies in Japanese. Here I have only cut out a few fragments of his life to give those who are completely ignorant of him a superficial understanding. These fragments mark the characteristics of his adoptive father and the Morita family, his experience of sitting in meditation at Ryunun Temple, and his encounter with teacher Diqiu Lingyun - in short, in these fragments, Sawaki Kodo's flower of life is sowing, growing, sprouting, and blooming. . In front of the gate of Antaiji Temple, retired Sawaki Hōmichi (from left), disciples (Yokoyama Sodō, Kasai Joshin, Sato Akiomi, Uchiyama Hōmasa)