Biography
As a young man in the early 1940s, Nishijima became a student of the noted Zen teacher Kodo Sawaki. Shortly after the end of the Second World War, Nishijima received a law degree from Tokyo University and began a career in finance. It was not until 1973, when he was in his mid-50s, that Nishijima was ordained as a Buddhist priest. His preceptor for this occasion was Rempo Niwa, a former head of the Soto Zen sect. Four years later, Niwa gave him shiho, formally accepting him as one of his successors. Nishijima continued his professional career until 1979.
During the 1960s, Nishijima began giving regular public lectures on Buddhism and Zen meditation. Since the 1980s, he has lectured in English and has had a number of foreign students, including American author Brad Warner and teacher Jundo Cohen. In 2007 Nishijima and a group of his students organized as the Dogen Sangha International. In April 2012, Warner dissolved the organization.
Nishijima is the author of several books in Japanese and English. He has also been a notable translator of Buddhist texts: working with Chodo Cross, Nishijima compiled one of three complete English versions of Dogen's 95-fascicle Kana Shobogenzo; he also translated Dogen's Shinji Shōbōgenzō. He has recently published an English translation of Nagarjuna's Fundamental Verses of the Middle Way (Mūlamadhyamakakārikā).
As of January 23, 2011 the Dogen Sangha Blog stated that Nishijima has not been in good health for some months.
Read more about this topic: Gudo Wafu Nishijima
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