The Zen Teaching of Homeless Kodo

Kosho Uchiyama was born in Tokyo in 1912. He received a master's degree in Western philosophy at Waseda University in 1937 and became a Zen priest three years later under Kodo Sawaki Roshi. Upon Sawaki's death in 1965, he became abbot of Antaiji, a temple and monastery then located on the outskirts of Kyoto. Uchiyama Roshi developed the practice at Antaiji and traveled extensively throughout Japan, lecturing and leading sesshins. He retired from Antaiji in 1975 and lived with his wife at Noke-in, a small temple outside Kyoto, where he continued to write, publish, and meet with the many people who found their way to his door, until his death in 1999. He wrote over twenty books on Zen, including translations of Dogen Zenji in modern Japanese with commentaries, as are various shorter essays. His Opening the Hand of Thought: Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice is available in English from Wisdom Publications. He was an origami master as well as a Zen master and published several books on origami.Shohaku Okumura is abbot of Sanshin Zen Community in Bloomington, Indiana. He is the author of many books on Zen Buddhism and continues to lead intensive meditation retreats at Sanshin-ji and other centers in the United States and around the world.