Yasutani, Suzuki, Nakagawa Roshis & One School Zen

Here's another One School Zen piece. This one is from a 1968 San Francisco Zen Center "Windbell" (thanks to Kyoko Henkel for sharing this):

"Suzuki Roshi had not known Soen [Nakagawa] Roshi [a Rinzai Zen master] and had only briefly met Yasutani Roshi [a hybrid Soto-Rinzai Zen master pictured above], so this coming together in America (in 1968 at Tassajara) was both unique and significant. Their feeling was that Zen should not be sectarian. That, as Yasutani Roshi suggested, "ancient Chinese Zen should be our model."

Suzuki Roshi explained to the students later that "in China the Zen schools were formed by the disciples and descendants of the Sixth [Ancestor]. These disciples and descendants knew each other and considered themselves dharma [siblings] and would advise their students to leave them and go study with another of the Sixth [Ancestor]'s disciples and descendants. Most of them came back to their teacher, but some did not. It is a good idea to give students freedom to study whatever teaching they want."

...The group arrived early in the evening of July 9th and next morning Yasutani Roshi lectured in the zendo. He began by saying that Soto and Rinzai have the same content but different wrappings... (He said) "Eventually Dogen did find a teacher (in China) and experienced full enlightenment by doing shikantaza (just sitting). Does this invalidate his fifteen years of koan training? An archery student hits the bull's eye with his hundredth arrow because of the practice he got shooting the first ninety-nine."

... In the evening Suzuki Roshi spoke to the students and said that Yasutani Roshi's lecture had painted an eye in the dragon that he, Suzuki Roshi, had been drawing for years, and that he looked forward to Soen Roshi putting in the other eye for him.

"Before, when I heard the word 'Rinzai,' I always felt a little uncomfortable. I see why. It was because I felt a separateness. Now when I hear the word Rinzai I feel complete."