| Harada Daiun Sogaku | |
| Birth Date: | 13 October 1871 |
| Birth Place: | Obama, Japan |
| Religion: | Zen Buddhism |
| School: | Sōtō |
| Rōshi | |
| Education: | Komazawa University |
was a Sōtō Zen monk who trained under both Sōtō and Rinzai teachers and became known for his teaching combining methods from both schools.
Born in an area known today as Obama, Fukui Prefecture, he entered a Sōtō temple as a novice at age 7 and continued training in temples during his primary and high school years. Haunted by existential questions, at age 20 he entered Shogen-ji, a well-known Rinzai monastery; it is reported that he experienced kensho after two and half years there. In 1901 he graduated from Komazawa University (then Sōtō-shu Daigakurin), the Sōtō university. He eventually studied under various Sōtō-priests such as Harada Sodo Kakusho,[1] Oka Sotan, Akino Kodo, Adachi Tatsujun, Hoshimi Tenkai, and Rinzai-priests such as Unmuken Taigi Sogon and Kogenshitsu Dokutan Sosan, with whom he completed koan-study. From the years of 1911 to 1923, Harada held a professor position at Soto-shu Daigakurin. A very strict disciplinarian, he served as abbot at various Sōtō temples throughout Japan: Hosshin-ji, Chisai-in, Bukkoku-ji, Sōji-ji and Chigen-ji. Until almost age 90, he conducted week-long sesshin at Hosshin-ji 6 times a year; he also held sesshin elsewhere.
Harada Roshi's teaching integrated the Rinzai use of Kōan, a practice which was abolished in the Sōtō-school in the 19th century under influence of Gento Sokuchu (1729–1807). He also departed from the Sōtō conventions of his day by training lay persons with monks rather than separately.
A well-known heir in the West is Hakuun Yasutani Rōshi, a Sōtō monk who he also trained in koan study. This led ultimately to the spread of combined Sōtō and Rinzai methods by the Sanbo Kyodan, a lay Zen-community founded by Yasutani which became influential in the West. Harada himself, however, remained within the Sōtō sect. It is often claimed in the West that he received Rinzai inka shomei (dharma transmission) from Dokutan Rōshi; he didn't, as he didn't want to leave the Soto-sect.[2]
Harada Rōshi may be viewed as an eclectically talented Sōtō teacher who did not abide by sectarian boundaries in regard to practice method.
Harada has been criticized for his support of the Japanese War-endeavors. A famous quote from Harada, cited in Zen at War, is:
Nonetheless, Japanese support for the war effort is frequently misunderstood by westerners unfamiliar with Japanese history & culture. For example, it is often overlooked that Japanese viewed themselves as “liberating” Asia from western imperialism, a perspective that justified the war in the minds of many Japanese people at the time. Furthermore, anyone familiar with Zen Buddhist history in Japan knows that Zen was hugely associated with traditional Samurai warrior culture… so that the idea of a Zen monk embracing militarism is not as “out of character” as interpreted by Brian Victoria. In fact the above quote by Harada is taken wholly out of the context of the Zen Buddhist world view: that everything is an illusion, and therefore doing “one’s duty” in whatever situation, is free of any moral or ethical judgment; which is still a common cultural outlook in Japan today
Dharma-heirs from Harada Roshi are:[3]