Background
Fukushima was born in Japan on March 1, 1933.
Koyamakamifusacho, Kita, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture 603-8143, Japan
Fukushima graduated from Otani University’s Department of Buddhist Studies in 1956.
Japan, 〒606-8435 Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto, Sakyo Ward, 南禅寺福地町
In 1961 Fukushima started his monastic training with Zenkei Shibayama at Nanzen-ji Monastery in Kyoto.
Portrait of Keidō Fukushima
Keidō Fukushima.
Keidō Fukushima with his work
California, United States
Keidō Fukushima, left, with Shibayama, right, c. 1970.
Fukushima
Keidō Fukushima and Ishwar Harris
Fukushima at work
1301 Mississippi St, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA
Zen Master Keidō Fukushima, right, demonstrates calligraphy art at Kansas University's Spencer Museum of Art.
Fukushima was born in Japan on March 1, 1933.
At the age of thirteen, Keidō Fukushima became a monk assistant of his original teacher Kidō Okada, who was an abbot of Hōfuku-ji monastery in Okayama, Japan. Following completion of Otani’s doctoral course, Fukushima graduated from Otani University’s Department of Buddhist Studies in 1956.
In 1961 Fukushima started his monastic training with Zenkei Shibayama at Nanzen-ji Monastery in Kyoto. Keidō Fukushima’s main teacher, Zenkei Shibayama, was instrumental in helping to transplant Rinzai Zen to the West. In 1969 Shibayama was accompanied by Fukushima (at that time senior monk at Nanzen-ji and known as Genshō) during his trip to the United States. In 1973 Keidō Fukushima received a fellowship to study English at the Claremont Colleges where he also conducted seminars on Zen and led zazen practice.
Fukushima was acknowledged as a Zen master in 1974. He was then appointed vice-resident abbot of Hōfuku-ji where he began to train his own apprentices. He became a master of the Tōfuku-ji training monastery in Kyoto in 1980. Fukushima was elected head abbot of Tōfuku-ji in 1991, supervising 363 affiliated temples.
Keidō Fukushima made efforts to carry out his teacher Zenkei Shibayama's intention to introduce Rinzai Zen to the West. To achieve this goal, he accepted Western students as monks, both at Hōfuku-ji and Tōfuku-ji. Among his students were Phra Thana Kaokham, a Thai monk of the Thai Forest Tradition; Muho Noelke, a future abbot of the Sōtō Zen temple Antai-ji in Hyōgo, Japan; and Justin Lanier, an American Anglican priest. Senior apprentices who have done sustained training under Fukushima include Tayo Gabler, Ron Sinnige, James Green, Alex Buijs, Alex Taikei Vesey, Hap Tivey, Tim Armacost, and Sally Stein.
Fukushima conducted annual speaking tours at American universities including Columbia University, Millsaps College, Hendrix College, Bard College, Pomona College, Xavier University in Cincinnati, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Middlebury College and the University of Vermont, among others. From 1991 onwards, his tours included some sesshin-retreats.
Keidō Fukushima also worked to raise awareness and funds to repair and reconstruct several of China's important historical monasteries. On later trips, Fukushima and other priests provided assistance for the rebuilding of Manjuji on Mt. Kinzan.
Fukushima was an authority on reading classical Chinese and Kanbun (a hybrid Chinese/Japanese script), moreover, he was well-known for his calligraphy. Though there were many Buddhist priests who produced religiously inspired art, they rarely create their artworks in front of an audience. Fukushima realized the act of doing calligraphy itself could exert educational and inspirational influence upon its witnesses. In accordance with Japanese conventions, he couldn't organize calligraphy demonstrations for Japanese audiences, but he did incorporate such events in his overseas teaching activities.
Keidō Fukushima was counter to tradition. This was proved by his decision to let women take part in monastic sesshin-retreats.
After decades of contact with American Zen, Fukushima gradually reconsidered his views on it. In October 2007 he wrote, "While American Zen has certainly learned a great deal from Japanese Zen, I think it is now time for American Zen to stand on its own two feet. In contrast with the 'monastic Zen' of Japan, American Zen is essentially a 'lay Zen.'"
Physical Characteristics: In the 2000s, Keidō Fukushima started to show symptoms of the onset of Parkinson’s disease, and his health steadily declined.