Japanese Zen Master (1914–1982)
Taisen Deshimaru (29 November 1914 – 30 April 1982) was a Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhist teacher. His experiences led him to Bangka Island, where he taught zazen to the Chinese, Indonesian, and European inhabitants of the island. The island was under the attack of the Japanese Occupational Army, who were executing large numbers of the inhabitants indiscriminately. Feeling a plight for the people of Bangka, Deshimaru eventually took up their cause and was quickly labeled a rebel by the Japanese Army and thrown in prison. Shortly before he was due for execution, high Japanese officials released him and the other prisoners waiting to be killed. Following this, he was placed in an American POW camp in Singapore until he was released months later. He died in 1982, after having solidly established Zen practice in the West.
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Religions remain what they are. Zen is meditation. Meditation is the foundation of every religion. People today feel an intense need to go back to the source of religious life, to the pure essence in the depths of themselves which they can discover only through actually experiencing it. They also need to be able to concentrate their minds in order to find the highest wisdom and freedom, which is spiritual in nature, in their efforts to deal with the influences of every description imposed upon them by their environment. Human wisdom alone is not enough, it is not complete. Only universal truth can provide the highest wisdom. Take away the word Zen and put Truth or Order of the Universe in its place.
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