The Mukyõhõ head sangha is situated in picturesque rural Hiratsuka city in Kanagawa prefecture Japan, with sweeping views of distant Mount Fuji and Mount Õyama. There is also a branch sangha in beautiful Sydney Australia, close by the historic Botany Bay. Mukyõhõ is a modern form of Mahayana Buddhism which is strongly influenced by the pragmatic teachings of warrior-Zen Master Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi (鈴木正三老師 b:1579 - d:1655). Those who have made a commitment to follow the sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts (bosatsukai 菩薩戒) in Mukyõhõ Buddhist practice are termed Bodhisattva monks (Bosatsusõ 菩薩僧).

Focusing on physical exercise and the expression of the Buddha Dharma in motion, Mukyõhõ is a distinctly modern interpretation of the Buddha’s teachings, a fourth turning of the wheel of the Buddha Dharma. A modern and pragmatic approach to Buddhist practice for a busy modern lifestyle.

無 - mu = nothing.
境 - kyõ = boundary or border.
法 - hõ = the Way of the Buddha; the Buddha Dharma; law, way, principle, method.

The word Mukyõhõ means then “the Way of the Buddha without boundaries” or “the Buddha Dharma without boundaries.”

Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi

Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi was a samurai who served as an upper vassal under the Shõgun Tokugawa leyasu (1543-1616) in the 17th century. He fought in the battle of Sekigahara in 1600, when Tokugawa Ieyasu gained control of Japan. He also fought in the battle of Õsaka in 1614-15 after which he was rewarded with a fief with a stipend of 200 koku of rice (1,000 bushels of rice). In 1620 at age 41, Shõsan Rõshi cut off all his hair and underwent self-ordination (jisei jukai 自誓受戒) becoming a Zen priest and devising his own highly unique and eclectic teaching style imbued with the warrior spirit on the foundation of a very personal and immediate practice of Zen Buddhism.

With his own unique brand of Buddhist practice, Shōsan Rõshi’s fierce martial spirit is epitomised by his “warrior’s glare zazen” or Niõ Zen which was in his time considered a revival of what the Buddha had originally taught. In a time of ossified rules, where skeletons of once-vital ideologies have become rigid and constricting, in a time where non-dualistic spiritualities are finding it difficult to be applicable in a world too busy for a hermit’s religiosity, the boundless teachings of Shõsan Rõshi are particularly well suited to the needs of busy modern people.

Shõsan Rõshi taught a personal blend of practices influenced by Shin Ritsu-shu (真律宗), Tendai-shu (天台宗), Shingon-shu (真言宗), Jõdo-shu (浄土宗) and both the Rinzai-shu (臨済宗) and Sõtõ-shu (曹洞宗) sects of Zen. Although he expressed a preference for Sõtõ-shu Zen, he never actually affiliated himself with any temple or lineage and was insistent upon independence as a way of achieving self-enlightenment. Shõsan Rõshi exhibits a capacity to naturally and vitally harmonise the spirit of the various schools of thought in his day on the foundation of a very personal and immediate practice of Zen Buddhism. He greatly championed the notion of carrying out Buddhist practice within the secular world and is widely acclaimed as a forerunner and exponent of the modern critical spirit. Fierce perseverance and vigourous practice are definitive of Shõsan Rõshi’s brand of “Samurai-Zen” and he insists that we must sum up all of our energy and throw ourselves in a fiercely committed manner into all-out war with the demon of the ego.

“Buddhist practice means the crushing of the six delusions.
This cannot be done with a weak mind.
With a firm Dharma-kāya mind, you send forth the mind of pure conviction.
With the sword of the original void, you sever delusions, self-attachment, and greed
and make determined advances day by day.”
- Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi

He authored a number of important works detailing his personal and eclectic form of Niõ Zen. In 1645, with the assistance of his brother Shigenari and the support of the Tokugawa government, Shõsan Rõshi established 32 temples in and around Amakusa, in Higo prefecture (modern day Kumamoto prefecture).

He led a profound search for the true source of Buddhism through the strictest of intense physical and mental discipline. For Shõsan Rõshi the Zen ideal was to live a full life in adherence to the teachings of the Buddha and to bring the practice of Zen into our everyday lives.

“Do not let yourself suffer because the dim mind obscures the clear, bright mind. Demolish the former at all times.”
- Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi

In the tradition of Shõsan Rõshi, Mukyõhõ emphasises dynamic physical activity over quiet contemplation. Students are urged to realise enlightenment in the midst of their daily lives, whether washing the clothes, at work, doing the gardening, etc.

Shõsan Rõshi taught that the quality and intention behind our practice are much more important than any specific technique. The strength and determination to persist in the quest for awakening is what really counts.

“One should use their energy vehemently and then, kõan, dhārani, nembutsu, or sūtra recitation are all the same.
What one must not do is allow their energy level to slump.”
- Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi

Shõsan Rõshi taught that the quality of one’s practice and attitude towards practice far outweighs the strict adherence to certain forms and doctrines. Shõsan was in no way concerned about orthodoxy if it meant that form became more important than intent and attitude towards practice. He insisted that Buddhism is not in fact an orthodox religion - one based on fixed doctrines or beliefs that we must adhere to. He explained rather that Buddhism is a religion based on orthopraxy - a religion based upon personal practice and experience as well as correct conduct. Any doctrines or creeds presented are merely guidelines to follow on the path to personal experience. True Buddhism is more concerned with orthopraxy than orthodoxy. In Buddhist practice there are no beliefs to be blindly followed, there is no orthodoxy. The precepts are merely guidelines to assist in practice. The teachings are not set in stone - it could be said that Buddhism is a work in progress, it isn’t a finished product.

For Shõsan Rõshi Buddhism is more concerned with personal practice - a practice that may take any form so long as it does not become a hindrance or attachment.

When bewilderment exceeds integrity, no amount of clearing away will get rid of it.
Your practice of humanity and of morality will have no integrity, no matter what exhortations you subject yourself to.
All this happens because you are blocked by the six roots and bewildered in yourself,
and therefore your integrity is obscured. Give yourself up twenty-four hours a day and enter upon the path of integrity.
- Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi

Any device at all that enabled a person to instinctively realise the impermanence of existence and the imminence of death was to be accepted as Buddhist practice. Any type of practice which did not promote this understanding was worthless, no matter who taught it or practised it.

All things must be done with full attention and full mindfulness on the task, otherwise it isn’t worth doing at all. Shõsan Rõshi taught that the truth of Buddhism is something to be translated into attitude, life-discipline, and experience. The Buddha Dharma is to be integrated into our daily lives.

Suzuki Shōsan Rõshi - warrior, thinker, and teacher, stands out for his uncontrived naturalness and vitality in the practice of Zen Buddhism, practising Zen with the glaring intensity of the Niõ.