Oda Sessō
Japanese Buddhist monk (1901–1966)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oda Sessō (小田 雪窓, 1901 – 16 September 1966)[2] was a Rinzai Rōshi and abbot of the Daitoku-ji (大徳寺) in Kyoto, Japan, a Dharma successor of Gotō Zuigan. He was elected abbot of Daitoku-ji upon Goto's retirement from that post in 1955. At Goto's request, Oda opened Daitoku-ji to foreigners. His western students included Gary Snyder,[3][4] Janwillem van de Wetering, Irmgard Schloegl, and Philip Yampolsky.
Oda Sessō | |
|---|---|
| Title | Rōshi |
| Personal life | |
| Born | 1901 Japan |
| Died | September 16, 1966 (aged 64–65)[1] |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Zen Buddhism |
| School | Rinzai |
| Senior posting | |
| Predecessor | Gotō Zuigan |
| Successor | Morinaga Sōkō |
Snyder described him as:
[T]he subtlest and most perceptive man I've ever met... His teisho were inaudible, his voice was so soft. Yet as one of the head monks at Daitoku-ji Sodo said much later, 'Those lectures of Oda Rōshi we couldn't hear I am beginning to hear today.'[5]
Alan Watts said:
[H]aving a conversation with him is like dropping a pebble in a well and never hearing it drop. The soundless pebble in the bottomless well.[6]
Janwillem van de Wetering gave an account of his stay at Daitoku-ji in his book The Empty Mirror: Experiences in a Japanese Zen Monastery.
.svg){kind=small}
