Rōshi

This article is about the Japanese term. For the Dragon Ball character, see Master Roshi. For the Saint Seiya character, see Libra Dohko.

Rōshi (老師) (Chinese pinyin: Lǎoshī; Sanskrit: ṛṣi) is a Japanese honorific title used in Zen Buddhism that literally means "old teacher" or "elder master" and sometimes denotes a person who gives spiritual guidance to a Zen sangha or congregation. Traditionally, it was applied as a respectful honorific to an older (usually over 60) Zen teacher who was perceived by a sangha to have realized a superior understanding of the Dharma. Despite this, it has come in some modern Zen schools to be applied as an official title that doesn't have to do with the age of the individual who receives it. This is especially true in some Japanese Rinzai Zen schools in Japan and United States, and among other schools in the US and Europe. There is sometimes dispute about use of the term rōshi, and there is wide variance in its application.

Most teachers called rōshi have undergone many years of arduous training. In some Rinzai organizations, a monastic is sometimes called rōshi after they have received inka shōmei, meaning they have completed kōan study and received Dharma transmission from their master (full authorization to teach and pass on the lineage). In the Harada-Yasutani school, a lay organization that combines Soto and Rinzai elements, a person is called rōshi when they have received inka, indicating they have passed the kōan curriculum and received Dharma transmission.

In the Sōtō organization, a person is sometimes called rōshi after they have received the title of shike, but this is by no means standard practice.

Many Zen communities in the United States confer the title of rōshi to their teachers in deference to perceived Japanese Zen tradition, and in most instances it is used synonymously with the term Zen master. However, only in a minority of Japanese traditions has the term's usage been standardized in this way, this being is a fairly modern development. Its use in the U.S. and Europe has at times led to confusion and controversy.

Chinese Chán Buddhism uses the semantically related title sifu (師父, literally "master father" or "father of masters", or 師傅, literally "master teacher" or "teacher of masters"; both pronounced "shīfu") as an honorific title for the highest masters, but it also may be used in respectful address of monks and nuns generally. In Chinese, 老師 (Chinese pinyin: Lǎoshī) is a common word for teacher or professor without the religious/spiritual connotation of rōshi.

Stuart Lachs has argued that Zen institutions in the West have often attributed a mythic status to the title rōshi with harmful consequences.

See also

• Oshō
• Sensei
• Zen master

References

• Gard, Richard A. (2007). Buddhism. Gardners Books. ISBN 0548077304. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/176932841&referer=brief_results. 
• Katagiri, Dainin (1988). Returning to Silence: Zen Practice in Daily Life. Shambhala Publications. ISBN 0877734313. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/16982186&referer=brief_results. 
• Ogata, Sohaku (1975). Zen for the West. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0837165830. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/174613475&referer=brief_results. 
• Seager, Richard Hughes (1999). Buddhism In America. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231108680. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/40481142&referer=one_hit.