Gudo Wafu Nishijima

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The center of the international Buddhist group Dogen Sangha was founded in Japan by Nishijima Roshi. His aim was never to create an organization in the usual sense of the word, but rather to free Buddhism from unnecessary organizational structures and thus restore its original purity. Nishijima Roshi himself always stood outside any communities or official schools. From a legal point of view, such a community must naturally function as a legal entity, but in reality it is more of a loose association of people who regularly practice zazen and study the work of Dogen Zenji.

Gudo Wafu Nishijima Roshi studied Buddhism and practiced zazen for more than 60 years. He was born in Yokohama in 1919, studied at the Faculty of Law of the University of Tokyo, and successfully completed his studies in September 1946. In September 1940, he met Master Kodo Sawaki for the first time and studied under him until Sawaki’s death in 1965. During this period, he combined his regular daily practice of zazen and study of Shobogenzo with a career at the Japanese Ministry of Finance and later at a securities company. In December 1973, he was ordained as a Buddhist monk by the late Master Renpo Niwa, and in 1977 he received the “transmission of Dharma” from him; Niwa Renpo later became the abbot of Eihei-ji monastery. Shortly afterward, Nishijima Roshi became a consultant at Ida Ryogokudo, and in 1987, with the help of Mr. Ida, he founded the Ida Ryogokudo Zazen Dojo in Ichikawa, near Tokyo.

For many decades and well into his eighties, Nishijima Roshi dedicated his life not only to teaching buddhism to his many Japanese and foreign students, but also to extensive publishing activities both in Japanese and English. He passed away in 2014 at the age of 94. Among his most important works in English are:

To Meet the Real Dragon
To Meet the Real Dragon

A clearly and accessibly written introduction to the realistic Buddhism of Master Dogen. In this book, Nishijima Roshi comments on and explains the fundamental realities of our modern life. Each chapter also ends with a section of questions and answers related to the given topic.

Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo
Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo

A four-volume edition of the complete translation of all 95 surviving chapters of Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo. This 13th-century text is one of the pillars of Japanese Buddhist literature. The translation stays as close as possible to the original Japanese text and contains the most extensive collection of commentaries, notes, explanations, and appendices to date, so that even readers unfamiliar with the historical and cultural context can understand the profound essence of its message.

Master Dogen’s Shinji-Shobogenzo
Master Dogen’s Shinji-Shobogenzo

A translation with commentary on 301 koan stories and anecdotes that Master Dogen collected during his stay in China. These koans, which record conversations between Buddhist teachers and their students, were used by Master Dogen as a basis for his formal teaching, and he quoted many of them in Shobogenzo. Shinji-Shobogenzo contains an extensive collection of koans; each story is accompanied by commentary from Nishijima Roshi, who is known for his clear, understandable, and down-to-earth interpretation of Buddhist philosophy.

shobogenzo.net is an archive site that Mike created for the works of his teacher. It contains all of Nishijima Roshi’s writings in English, audio and video recordings of his weekly lectures and information about the books published in English and other languages, plus a large amount of reference material on the Shobogenzo.