Gotō Zuigan (後藤 瑞巌) was a Buddhist Rinzai Zen master the chief abbot of Myōshin-ji and Daitoku-ji temples, and a past president of Hanazono University of Kyoto, also known as "Rinzai University."

Biography

Zuigan was influential in the development of Buddhism in America in the early 20th century. He was a student of the Zen master Tetsuo Sōkatsu and followed him to California in 1906 with a group of fourteen who went to the United States with Tetsuo Sōkatsu in 1906, attempting strawberry farming in Hayward, California, and founding a branch of Ryomo Kyokai on Sutter Street in San Francisco. Zuigan returned to Japan in 1910. In 1916, Sōkatsu bestowed upon him the Inka Shōmei. He then spent fifteen years as a missionary in Seoul. Later, he returned to Japan and taught at the temple Daitoku-ji in Kyoto.

Notable students

Among Zuigan's notable students were:

Dharma heirs

Sources