SANSHIN SOURCE
  • practice vision 2026
  • Sanshin Zen Community
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Welcome to Sanshin Source!

This is Sanshin Zen Community's library of context and in-depth information about our style of practice.  Although the information arises directly from our sangha's practice in the zendo and is collected here primarily to support that practice, anyone is welcome to peruse and study our resources as our collection continues to grow.  Items not linked below are still under construction.  Sanshin Source is a partner site to our main site, where you'll find schedules and calendars, event registration, tools for giving, and information on our temple and sangha.
What's new at ​Sanshin Source? 
  • Hoko's recent talk on ritual has been added to our Ritual page.
  • ​There's a new entry on Tonen's blog, Thinking About Dharma.​
  • There are monthly essays on the I Vow page.

Explore the collection.

T​enets and teachings
Core elements of Soto Zen doctrine
  • Sokushin zebutsu 即心是佛 (Mind itself is Buddha)
  • Ichibutsu ryoso 一佛両祖 (One Buddha, two founders)
  • Seiden no buppo 正伝の仏法 (Authentic transmission of the Buddhadharma)
  • The practice of zazen is realized as the form of Buddha (butsu no sugata 仏の姿)
  • Igi soku buppō, sahō kore shūshi 威儀即仏法, 作法是宗旨 (Dignified deportment is the Buddhadharma, and etiquette is the principle of our school)
  • Ten main themes of Dogen's teaching
  • Buddhist essentials​
Stories and symbols
More gateways for connecting with the intangible 
  • Nyoho: clothing (robes), food and shelter (sacred space) made or used according to thusness
  • Scriptures and texts
  • ​Iconography and cosmology
  • ​Our storytelling tradition
Practices and precepts
Our actions, rituals, and behaviors that make the dharma tangible 
  • Zazen
  • Work
  • Study
  • Ritual
  • Precepts and morality
  • Getting started in Zen practice  (new!)
Sangha and society
Embodying the dharma together toward peace and harmony 
  • ​Sanshin's leadership structure and policies
  • Practicing in community
  • ​Zen and spiritual health
  • Bodhisattva leadership: practicing as a board member or practice leader
  • Ordination as a novice​
  • Caring for the earth

Special topics

Every year we take up a particular area of exploration that helps us to answer this question: Why do we practice the way we do?  We began with a specific focus on the immediate influences on our style of practice, then gradually broadened our view.  Throughout the year we create and collect resources about the topic that engage areas across the practice vision, and these resources remain freely available for anyone who wants to dig in.   
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Lineage and Legacy
All about our immediate three 20th century ancestors and the teachings and practice we've inherited here at Sanshin.
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Tangible Thusness
Discovering the three faces of nyoho, or things made and used according to the dharma: clothing, food and shelter.
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The World of Soto Zen
Culture and context that gives us the background to understand our tradition beyond zazen and Dogen. 

Sanshin's story
   
Sanshin's six practice guidelines and Uchiyama Roshi's seven points of practice
   Kodo Sawaki sets the tone
   Starting Sanshin
​   Ichiza, nigyou, sanshin
   ​Non-reliance: connection without dependance
   Comparing lineage styles
   Our complete lineage
   Timeline of our 20th century ancestors
   By and about our 20th century ancestors
      Kodo Sawaki interview
​Who is Hoko and what's she doing here?

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Site map

​Practice vision diagram

TENETS AND TEACHINGS

PRACTICES AND PRECEPTS

Getting started in Zen practice

Zazen
   Shikantaza in Uchiyama Roshi's style
   Deeply understanding that zazen is good for nothing
   Sanshin Solo
   Zendo guidelines


   Understanding Sanshin-style sesshin
   Purpose of sesshin
   Origin of our style of sesshin
   The sesshin day
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   Sesshin "downtime"
   No one is forcing you to practice
   Not being in relationship
   Enduring sesshin
   What we're really doing
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​   Your role in sesshin
   Sesshin is not for the fragile
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Zazen That Amounts to Nothing

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Work
   Inside the temple: studying the three minds
   Outside the temple: studying the threefold pure precepts


Study
   I vow with all beings: essays on gathas
   ​Shakyamuni to Sanshin: Buddhist essentials
      Three Treasures chart
      Sokushin zebutsu
   108 Gates of Dharma Illumination: essays
   Tonen's teachings
      Thinking about dharma
   Dogen themes:
  • Fuji (Nonduality)
  • Menju (Face-to-face transmission)
  • Bussho (Buddha-nature)
  • Shusho Itto (Oneness and equality of practice and realization)
  • Uji (Being-Time)
  • Ippo-Gujin (Total exertion)
  • Jinshin Inga (Deep faith in cause and effect)
  • Igi-soku buppo (Deportment is itself the buddhadharma)
  • Dotoku (Able to speak)
  • Zazen or shikantaza​​

Ritual
   Sanshin style ritual
   Origins of our modern kinhin practice
   Ceremonies
      Nehan-e (Nirvana Day)
​   Altars
   Manners and customs
      Hand positions
      Bowing
      Sunday forms
      Sesshin forms
      Weekday morning forms
   Baika 
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The nature of morality
   Key elements
   Character building
   Dogen on precepts and virtue

The precepts
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   Precepts and the bodhisattva vows
   The first precept
   The second precept
​   The third precept
​   The fourth precept
​   The fifth precept
​   The sixth precept
​   The seventh precept
​   The eighth precept
   The ninth precept
​   The tenth precept
   ​Ryaku fusatsu


STORIES AND SYMBOLS
   Telling tales
      Zhiguai
      Bukkyou setsuwa
      Heian and Kamakura historical context
      Cult of the book
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      Salon stories


SANGHA AND SOCIETY

​   Bodhisattva Leadership

      Board members
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         Incorporation
         Governance documents
         Understanding the board
         Creating an effective board
         Theocracy and democracy
         Long range and strategic planning
         
Committees or work teams

      Practice leaders
         Resources for the tenzo
         Resources for the ino
      ​      Liturgy and chanting


      Novices
          Steps to ordination
          Sotoshu essentials
          Core competencies for clergy
          Personal vows
          Roles and training
          Preparing to train in the senmon sodo
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          Serving as shuso
             Responsibilities and activities
             Determining your theme
             Tips for talks: content and delivery
             Hoko's four corners of sangha practice
             Where to look for material and inspiration
          Family and ordination
          Six tasks of religious education


Practicing in community
Zen and spiritual health
 
SPECIAL TOPICS

2024: Lineage and legacy

2025: Tangible Thusness: Nyoho

Nyoho clothing
   Sawaki Nyoho-e Treasury
      ​Sawaki Roshi's 20th century nyoho-e movement
     Key points of Sanshin's sewing practice
      ​What does it mean to wear a rakusu?
      ​The meaning of the robe verse
      ​The manner of receiving: jukai-e
      ​Ehou ichinyou: robe and dharma are one
      One Thusness (Sawaki Roshi article)
      Advisory team
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Nyoho food
     ​Hoko on the intersections between nyoho clothing and nyoho food
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     The practice of cooking
     The practice of serving
     The practice of eating

     The practice of procuring ingredients
​     Local food practice 

Nyoho shelter
     Hoko on this temple as the only temple
     Hoko on the shichido garan
     ​​Hosshin on being without boundaries within walls 
     ​Hoko on sheltering in sacred space

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2026: The World of Soto Zen
     
Becoming Soto Zen: our denominational history
     The surprising scope of Sotoshu
     Baika and postwar reconstruction






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  • practice vision 2026
  • Sanshin Zen Community