The Popularization of Zen in America and Europe

It is said that Zen sprouted its seeds in India, bloomed the flowers in China, and bore its fruits in Japan.
Eventually, the fruits has provided seeds and spread during the 20th century, which were sown in the ground among America to Europe.

In 1893 (Meiji 26), World Parliament of Religions was held in Chicago, America, and Buddhism from the East was propagated for the first time.
Four Buddhists from Japan, who represented in different schools of Buddhism, participated in the meeting.
Soyen Shaku, from the Rinzai school of the Enkaku-ji Temple in Kamakura, has participated and explained the essence of Zen from the perspective of the Rinzai school.
This was the beginning of the lectures of Zen in public overseas.

Four years later from the meeting, an opportunity was given to Daisetsu Suzuki to visit the U.S., who was practicing Zen at the Enkaku-ji Temple.
Daisetsu has stayed for 11 years and mainly worked on the translation of Zen manuscripts.
Soyen Shaku returned to the U.S. as well and performed lectures on Zen throughout the nation which accelerated the propagation of Zen Buddhism.
The major accomplishments of Daisetsu Suzuki such as the translation of “Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana” and his work “Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism” among other works has matured the teachings of Zen throughout the West.

In post war 1950, Daisetsu Suzuki has returned to the U.S. with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, and conducted lectures in Buddhist philosophy and Zen at Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, and other universities.
Without such achievements of Daisetsu Suzuki, contemporary understanding of Zen in the West would not existed of today.

In 1957, under the invitation of the Rockefeller Foundation, Shinichi Hisamatsu has conducted a lecture regarding Zen and Zen culture at Harvard University.
Shinichi Hisamatsu was a leading disciple of Kitaro Nishida, who is the founder of Japanese philosophy, and began practicing Zen introduced by Nishida.
Kitaro Nishida and Daisetsu Suzuki were both born in the same region and were close since young age. Shinichi Hisamatsu joined them in their friendship, and they remained close into their later years.
“Zen and Fine Arts”, one of Shinichi Hisamatsu’s works, was translated into English and received appraisal from readers in the West.

Since 1965, Zenkei Shibayama has been visiting the U.S. every year since the recommendation of Daisetsu Suzuki
He traveled to the U.S. eight times within six years, practicing Zazen and proposing a record for Zen terminology.
Zenkei Shibayama introduced Zen at the University of Hawaii, Clermont College, Carlton College, Colgate College, and various other universities.

The current state of Zen today was made possible by the accomplishments of Soyen Shaku and Daisetsu Suzuki, as well as the practices of Shinichi Hisamatsu and Zenkei Shibayama that followed them.