This insightful Zen anecdote explores the transformative power of radical politeness and quiet humility through an early childhood memory of Soyen Shaku, who grew up to become the historic first Zen master to teach in the United States.
The zen master Soyen Shaku passed from this world when he was sixty-one years of age. Fulfilling his life’s work, he left a great teaching, far richer than that of most Zen masters.
His pupils used to sleep in the daytime during midsummer, and while he overlooked this he himself never wasted a minute.
When he was but twelve years old he was already studying Tendai philosophical speculation. One summer day, the air had been so sultry that little Soyen stretched his legs and went to sleep while his teacher was away.
Three hours passed when, suddenly waking, he heard his master enter, but it was too late. There he lay, sprawled across the doorway.
“I beg your pardon, I beg your pardon,” his teacher whispered, stepping carefully over Soyen’s body as if it were that of some distinguished guest. After this, Soyen never slept again in the afternoon.
Courtesy: Zen koans at https://ashidakim.com
Soyen Shaku (1860-1919) was the first Zen Buddhist master to teach in the United States.
Originating from the mountainous Zhejiang province of eastern China, the Tiantai (Tendai in Japanese) tradition is renowned for its sweeping, inclusive approach to Buddhist doctrine, asserting that all various teachings are harmonized within the Lotus Sutra—a sacred text which proclaims that all living beings possess the innate potential to attain full Buddhahood. Its “philosophical speculation” centers on deep meditative insights into the nature of reality, most notably the concept of the Three Truths: that all things are fundamentally empty of independent existence (ku), yet they exist temporarily as phenomenal appearances (ke), and both states are simultaneously true as a unified Middle Way (chu). This rigorous intellectual framework demands that practitioners balance intense academic study of cosmic interconnectedness with direct, experiential meditation, a demanding discipline that laid the foundational groundwork for many of Japan’s later Zen masters.