Giuseppe Jisō Forzani has been the Director of the Sōtō Zen Buddhism Europe Office based in Paris since November 2009. He is Italian, and after a turbulent youth practised and studied in Sōtō Zen Buddhist monasteries in Japan, and was ordained there. He is married and has two sons. You are the director of the […]
On Sunday 5th August a ceremony was held at La Gendronnière to commemorate the life of Jean Baby, an elder disciple of Master Deshimaru who died on Jan 1st of this year, aged 90. Jean was the founder of the Dojo of Strasbourg, and also (together with Nancy Amphoux) the founder of the UK branch […]
At a UK sesshin held at Gaunts House in the early 1990’s, during zazen, Jean said, “Please don’t die before me” – Jean had already held his 70th birthday party on Denny’s Barge in Bristol in 1991. Now nearly 20 years later Jean Baby has died after being very ill, unable to walk with damaged […]
This is the first in a series of talks looking at different Buddhist teachings from a Zen perspective. I thought I’d start with the first sermon the Buddha gave, on the Four Noble Truths, look at what he said, and also the Zen attitude to this.